Similar Yet Different
by BookWorm37
Summary: Sequel to "A Different Life." Click if you want to find out what happened after the curtain closed. *Hint* There are babies and alternate realities. CDG JS And all the other pairing set up previously
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Should I be posting this now? No, probably not. But what can I say? Starting another story when I have five papers (I kid you not, FIVE) to complete (two to completely write from the beginning) during the next week ... probably not my best idea. But considering it gives you guys something to read while pretending that Real Life doesn't exist ...

* * *

She had known the first time that she had gotten sick that she was pregnant. He had known about a week before, but of course she hadn't believed him.

DG rolled her eyes, thinking that after almost three annuals married to Wyatt Cain, and a little over four annuals of living with him, that she'd know when he was right about things like this. Now she had to go tell him that Leena said she was pregnant, too. That should be a great boost for his ego.

Not that his ego needed boosting, mind you. There was something about being married to the heir to the Goblin Throne, and already being "the Man" that seemed to have Wyatt's ego swelling to the size of the Bog of Eternal Stench. ... Except he smelled much better than that horrid Bog. He was better looking, too, now that she thought about it.

As she walked down the hall she heard a happy squeal from behind her. When she turned around she found a chubby toddler bounding toward her, arms outstretched. "DD!" the baby boy called happily.

DG smiled at her cousin's name for her as she knelt to pick him up. "Garret!" she responded, equally happy. It was always a pleasant experience to play with the bouncing lad -- it seemed as if it was impossible for him to get upset.

"A_ha_!" she heard another voice from the direction Garret had run from. "There you are, you little goblin," Jareth said as he approached his niece and his son with a smile. "I see he's roped you into helping him escape bath time."

"Oh, is that what he's escaping?" DG asked with a smile. "And here I thought I just radiated 'baby zone' or something."

Jareth's smile widened, a twinkle in his eyes at the news. "Have you told Wyatt yet?"

DG raised her eyebrow at her uncle, "Are you kidding? He's the one that told me last week."

Her uncle plucked his wayward son from her arms, motioning with his head behind her, "Well I suggest you let him know that he was right."

DG turned around to face her husband while her uncle and cousin made a hasty retreat back to the bath.

"I saw Leena today," she told him as she greeted him with a hug.

"Really?" he replied, a twinkle in his eyes. "And what did she say?"

His wife smiled up at him, standing up a little taller on her toes, she kissed him deeply. When she pulled back she said, "Wyatt, you're going to be a daddy. Again."

The joy in his face was more than worth having to listen to him mumble against her mouth, "Told you so."

Footsteps approached them, but husband and wife didn't relinquish their hold on each other until the owner of the footsteps cleared his throat, "What have I told you guys about doing that where I can see you? There's a reason your rooms have doors on them -- locks, too."

DG had to pull back at that, giving her step-son an amused look as she said, "Well I'm sorry, but you're just going to have to get used to it. I've been told that my hormones will be all over the place over the next few months and there's no telling what I'll do."

Jeb frowned at her, "Mom, what are you saying?"

She grinned at him, "Congratulations, Jeb, you're going to be a big brother."

He gaped at the two of them in shock, "What?"

"I know you haven't gone deaf in the past two seconds, son," Wyatt said, his own grin radiating his joy.

"A baby?" Jeb asked, wanting to make sure his ears weren't deceiving him. "Really?"

DG nodded, pleased he seemed to be taking it well.

She needn't have worried. If she was unsure of how he'd accept having a sibling at sixteen annuals, the hug he gave them both was strong enough to assuage her fears. Looked like they were going to be one big happy family.

* * *

The dreams started that night. DG had had dreams before, but these were more snippets of something larger, and more real than her other dreams were. She dreamt that she was five annuals old again, wandering the forest near Finaqua with Az.

She dreamt of the cave where they had met the Witch, and she dreamt that she let go of Azkadellia's hand.

DG woke with a sharp gasp, sitting straight up in bed as the image of the Witch entering her sister's young body filled her mind's eye.

"Dot?" Wyatt's sleepy voice asked from his spot next to her in bed. His hand came up to stroke her arm, "What's wrong?"

DG looked back at her husband with a soft smile: nothing could hurt her while his arms were around her. She leaned back down into his warm embrace, "Nothing, Wyatt. Just a bad dream."

He pulled her close, his mind waking up quickly. "Wanna tell me about it?"

She shook her head as she attempted to burrow further into his side, "No." He waited while she gathered her thoughts before adding anyway, "I dreamt about the cave ... and the Witch. I let go of Az's hand and the Witch went inside her."

Wyatt kissed the top of her head. "It's just a dream, darlin'. Nothin' can hurt you when I've got you, Dot. Nothing." He kissed her head again before shifting so she could more easily curl into his side.

As she fell asleep again, DG couldn't help but wonder if it was really only a dream.

* * *

Those first few weeks, when the morning sickness was at its worst, DG was terrified that she might miscarry. Her worries were made even more troublesome because of two things: one, Azkadellia was pregnant with her second child at the same time as DG -- it made no difference that she was nearly five months farther along than her younger sister; and two, the dreams weren't subsiding.

DG went through her days painting on a smile for her subjects and friends and family. She began to dread her nights. Not all of the dreams were bad -- some of them were quite nice snippets of some other life they all might have led if things had gone differently, but it was the nightmares that filled her thoughts. Nightmares about what might have happened to Wyatt, Jeb, Azkadellia, Jareth ... everyone that she cared most about, all centering around the Witch.

"You alright, Dot?" Wyatt asked as he approached his wife's perch on the edge of the wall that separated the fieries' forest from the rest of the inner Labyrinth.

DG looked up at her husband with a smile, one hand absently resting on her stomach (which was now, at three months along, starting to protrude quite cutely, if Wyatt did think so himself). "I'd be perfect if you stopped calling me Dot, Wyatt."

He groaned as he lowered himself to sit beside her on the wall, pulling her against him gently. "Why? The court doesn't like the idea of having a Queen DG, and you absolutely refuse to let people call you Dorothy. Dot is a perfect alternative."

"Queen Dot of the Labyrinth." She raised her eyebrows, giving him a look, "Oh yes, I'm _sure_ it'll strike fear into the hearts of men and women everywhere," DG grinned at him as he put one of his hands over her stomach, covering her own hand quite thoroughly. She looked down at their hands and her smile turned introspective, "There was a day not that long ago when your hand covered my whole stomach."

Wyatt put his other hand under her chin, lifting her face so he could look his wife in the eye. "I love you, darlin'. Every day I love you more and more -- even if you're gettin' bigger because you're carryin' my baby inside you." He caught her mouth in a heated kiss. "It just makes me love you more."

She looked up at him with wide eyes full of unshed tears. "Do you mean that?"

He gave her a warm smile, "Always and forever."

She smiled back, her worries momentarily forgotten, "Then you can call me Dot. But everyone else has to call me Thia."

Wyatt chuckled against her mouth, "I'm sure your uncle wouldn't mind making a royal proclamation or somethin' of that sort."

* * *

"Peanut, darling, stay away from the edge. You don't want to topple off and hurt yourself," Azkadellia told her daughter as she toddled about on the gazebo.

Being a curious one annual old was hard work, but Imelda (called Peanut by all her family) was good at being one and didn't like how high up the gazebo seemed from the rest of the ground.

Azkadellia watched her little girl explore the inner workings of the gazebo -- and the numerous toys that had been moved out there for her to play with. It was hard for her to believe that her little was already almost eighteen months old. And already there was another on the way.

She grinned at the memory of finding out she was pregnant the second time. This baby was made solely out of the love between a man and a woman.

That's not to say that Peanut wasn't loved, nor wanted, but Imelda was a child born to rule a country, and she would do a fine job if her parents had anything to say about it. Azkadellia wouldn't and couldn't claim to love her husband, but Prince Consort Arrington Somerfield was a good man and a good father. Imelda was a lucky girl to have not only one but two loving, doting fathers and mothers.

It had been a bit difficult and awkward to get used to at first, but a sort of routine had developed with Arrington and Azkadellia ... and their consorts. It was not a secret that they both had lovers, but the very existence of little Peanut quelled the growing protests some of the members of court had about the marriage. It was a marriage of convenience, to be sure, but Az and Arrington had developed a friendship over the long months waiting for Imelda to be born. Their friendship, and their firm hand in dealing with the matters Nesa delegated to them, made them rise in admiration in the eyes of the people.

Azkadellia would be allowed her second consort, and Arrington would be allowed his consort, just so long as nothing happened to Peanut.

When the baby squealed in joy at something in the distance, Azkadellia rose slowly to see what had caught her daughter's eye. One hand was on her massively protruding stomach in an attempt to steady herself. No matter how many times she did this, she was positive that she'd never get used to the feeling of having a watermelon attached to her front side.

Az grinned when she caught sight of her sister, also noticeably pregnant even at only four months, and her family. She waved, knowing better than to run toward her sister in the state they both were in. Adrian would give her a tongue lashing if she tried to run while nine months pregnant.

Peanut started babbling happily as her cousin came bounding up and picked her up, twirling her around before settling her on his hip.

"How's my best girl?" Jeb asked the baby as she wrapped her chubby arms around his neck and plopped a very slobbery kiss on his cheek.

DG laughed as she listened to her step-son talk to Az's little girl, "I'm not sure the cook's daughter ... what's her name, Wyatt? Lya, isn't it? Anyway, I'm not sure Lya would appreciate hearing you talk like that about another girl, Jeb."

Jeb just smiled down at the little girl in his arms who seemed fascinated by his jacket. "Lya knows she comes in a close second, but Peanut will always be my best girl."

"Good to hear you've got your mind made up then," Wyatt teased his son with a grin. He moved to embrace his sister-in-law. "You look well, Az."

She smiled back at him, watching her nephew interact with her daughter, "Thank you, Wyatt. You look well, too." Turning her attention to her sister she frowned, "And you look like you haven't been sleeping."

Her younger sister shrugged, one hand absentmindedly rubbing her stomach. "I've been sleeping ... just having some bad dreams is all."

"Nightmares is more like it," Wyatt put in, giving his wife a hard look. "You wake up almost every other night in a cold sweat, darlin'."

"Oh, Deej," Az said, moving to give her sister a hug. She pulled back slightly, "I guess it should be Thia, then, shouldn't it?"

Thia smiled at her sister, "For you I'll always be Deej, Az." She glared at her husband, "Just like _someone_ won't stop calling me _Dot_."

Wyatt just grinned, offering his wife and sister-in-law his arms to escort them back to the palace, Jeb and Peanut a little ways behind.

* * *

"When are they expected back?" Thia asked her sister as they relaxed in the sitting room, a fire roaring in the hearth while Adrian, Jeb, and Wyatt played a game of darts.

Az took another sip of her tea before responding, "Tomorrow evening. Father said Mother has to get something to fulfill some prophecy or other."

Thia and Wyatt exchanged a look. "The Emerald," Wyatt said softly.

"How do you know about the Emerald?" Az asked curiously, her brow furrowed, "Mother only told me about it a few hours before she left."

His eyes widened a little at he looked at his sister-in-law, "Dot's been dreaming about it. It's part of her nightmares. Why does your mother need the Emerald?"

Thia looked at her husband before turning to her sister, one hand resting protectively on her stomach, "The majestic queen of the O.Z.?"

Az nodded, picking up where her sister left off, "Had two lovely daughters, she. One to Darkness, she be drawn, and one to Light, she be shown."

"Double eclipse it is foreseen, Light meets Dark in the Stillness between," Thia's voice was sure and clear and sent a shiver down Jeb's spine listening to it.

"But only one and one alone shall hold the Emerald and take the throne," Az concluded. Her hands held her stomach as a grimace formed on her face.

"Az?" Adrian asked, his voice holding a note of fear that Wyatt could understand well. He'd been petrified when Adora had started having labor pains in the middle of the night. Adrian went to his lover's side, the consort ring on his finger glinting in the fire light as he grasped her arm. "What's wrong? Is it the baby?"

Az looked at him through the haze of what was beginning to happen. She gasped as she tried to force past the contraction that wracked her body, "I think my water just broke."

"You have _great_ timing, sis," Thia said with a smile as Wyatt called for servants to come and help.

Az gave her sister a strained smile in return, "I try."

* * *

A/N: Just so you know, Peanut had four name changes before I settled on her name. If you don't like it, shove it, because I do.

Don't expect a post until next weekend. Fair warning, right? ... I might be able to swing a post before that, but seriously, no promises.


	2. Chapter 2

"This is _so_ unfair," Az complained as she leaned heavily on Adrian and Wyatt as they walked down the hall.

"Az, you know it'll help the baby come faster," Thia replied with a grin, keeping in step with their progress down the hall.

She sent a half hearted glare at her younger sister, "It doesn't mean that I have to like it, Deej -- I mean, Thia. Waiting for the baby to come is almost as annoying as when we watched the _Matrix_ sequel and were waiting for that one woman to finally die."

Thia grinned, "One, it's okay if you want to call me Deej, Az. Thia is more for the formal papers and whatnot. Two, you didn't have to watch that movie with me. Just because I have to keep up on Other Side popular culture doesn't mean that you do, too."

Az giggled at that, grinning fully as she replied, "Yes, but if I didn't help you, then how in the world would I understand some of the things that come out of your mouth?"

Az's grip on Adrian's arm tightened as her body was hit with another contraction. He frowned as it passed, "I don't like you being so far from the midwife, Az."

She nodded, through the sweat that had formed over the course of their walk. Her breathing was labored and it was Thia who responded for her, "You're right, Rian. We should be getting back. Az looks likes she's about to fall down. You must be exhausted, Az."

"Come on, let's get you back to your bed," Wyatt put in as he helped Adrian gently maneuver the woman between them so they were heading down the corridor in the other direction.

Watching her husband and the man who was a good as her brother-in-law bear the brunt of Azkadellia's pain as her fingers dug into their arms, Thia's hands went to cradle her stomach, wondering if her own birthing experience would be as painful.

---

Aerenesa looked at the sky with a frown. If they didn't speed up, they wouldn't make it back to Finaqua before nightfall. The Eclipse was only two days away and there was much she needed to tell her daughters before it began. If DG -- or, Thia, as she now wished to be called, and Azkadellia were not within the Stillness at the time of the Eclipse ... Nesa didn't want to think about what that would entail.

When the Metatron had appeared to her and told her what was necessary, she had balked at the idea of being part of the plan. But Lurline's spokesman would have none of it. She _would_ get the Emerald, and the stone would be allowed to chose which one of her daughters would rule the O.Z. It didn't matter that Thia was already heir to the Goblin Crown. The Emerald would have the final say if the Labyrinth and the O.Z. were to become one kingdom again.

Her instructions had been clear: get the stone, return to Finaqua, and let the Eclipse lead where it may. Apparently it didn't matter that both of her daughters were pregnant. She supposed it made sense in a weird way: It didn't matter that Thia was already bound to the Labyrinth, so why should it matter if Azkadellia and Thia were both with child?

---

It was late, and Azkadellia was lying in bed, trying to relax as the labor crept along slowly. The midwife said the baby was doing just fine, but the mother groused that it was taking its sweet time in gracing them with its presence.

Jeb had long since gone to bed, not being needed at all and knowing that someone had to get up with Peanut in the morning whether Azkadellia gave birth or not.

Wyatt was sitting on one of the sofas that occupied the antechamber to Azkadellia's bedroom, where she was currently surrounded by Adrian, three midwives, and no less than five maids. Thia was curled into his side, the quilt his mother had sewn for them wrapped about her lithe body to keep her warm.

He kissed the top of her head as she sighed in her sleep, wishing that she would have agreed to go to their own bedroom down the hall. But his Dot hadn't wanted to be so far away if something happened in the middle of the night. A smile ghosted over his lips. That was Dot, all right: always thinking of other people before herself. She'd make such a wonderful queen.

She burrowed further into his side and Wyatt wondered where her mind was at.

Her mind was currently occupied in another plane of existence and had little care over what her body was currently up to.

---

"_Who are you?" she asked, knowing that there was someone with her in this ethereal mist._

"_I am the Metatron," an oddly familiar male voice said. A figure came into the light, pale skin, brown hair, dressed head to toe in black, and a very familiar haughty expression on his face._

_Thia raised an eyebrow and tried to suppress a smirk. _That's_ where she knew that voice: _Dogma_. Her voice was curious in an almost terrified manner. "Why do you look like Alan Rickman?"_

_He raised his eyebrow in mock indignation, "Is it so hard to believe that Lurline made Alan Rickman to look like _me_ and not the other way around?"_

"_He's from the Other Side, Metatron," she stressed his title. She crossed her arms over her chest in an attempt to look more pissed off than she really was. "And you look like you just got pulled away from a _Dogma_ fan convention."_

_His eyes narrowed to thin slits to hide the humor in them as he regarded her. "Watch your tongue, Princess, or I may have to change my appearance to one of Alan's more recent roles."_

"_What are you gonna go? Turn Snape on my ass?" she goaded, her eyebrows raised in defiance. Her hands migrated to rest on her hips in the universal pose of the 'Pissed Off Mom.' "You won't hurt me."_

"_Are you so sure about that?" He crossed his arms over his chest to mimic her earlier movement. "You just insulted me."_

"_Yes," she admitted freely, "But I'm pregnant and -- if the anatomy of Alan's character in that movie holds true -- you're not."_

_The Metatron smirked first, breaking the mock fight before they had to resort to taunts about nail polish and hair styles. "Yes, well, all that aside, there is an important matter that we need you to address." At Thia's raised eyebrows he elaborated, "By 'we' I mean Lurline, of course."_

_Waving her hand for him to continue, Thia imagined that she was standing in front of a chair. When she felt the front of the seat touch her legs, she sat down, judging that this was most likely news she'd want to hear sitting down._

"_What's this about?" she asked curiously as the Alan Rickman look-alike sat across from her._

"_The past that never was and the future that never will be."_

_She tensed, her eyes narrowing as she tried to maintain her composure._

_He didn't wait for her to respond verbally, "The dreams you've been having for the past three months are truly what would have happened if you had let go of Azkadellia's hand in that cave." His eyes were a bit regretful as he added, "It _is_ what did happen in a different reality."_

"_What do you want me for? Surely the me in that reality can get along just fine," Thia's eyes widened as she thought about everything he might tell her to do. Lurline's mouthpiece didn't ask -- he commanded._

"_Lurline has requested that you go to the other reality shortly after the Double Eclipse and ... speed up the healing process," he tried to be as politically correct as possible._

_She opened her mouth to protest, but only a squeak emitted from her throat._

_The Metatron chuckled, gracing her with a slight grin, "As you have seen, your counterpart cannot access her magick to any real extent." His face lost all humor, "And there is no one else to teach her. Lurline believes --and _I _agree with her, that you are the only option to do what must be done. _She_ needs you."_

"_Why should I?" Thia glared at him, one hand moving over her stomach protectively, "I'm about to enter my second trimester, for crying out loud! Why should I risk my life and my baby to help them? _I didn't let go of Az's hand!_"_

_The Metatron stood and looked at her as if she was a petulant child, "My dear, you don't have a choice in the matter. I suggest, when the time comes, that you do your work quickly and then get on with your life as you wish to lead it."_

Thia gasped as she woke, her arms tightening instinctively around her husband's hard body. She felt him stir beneath her hands as he came awake. Tears pricked at her eyes as he began to run one of his arms up and down her side even in his half awake state.

The idea of leaving him, even for a short while, frightened her beyond belief. As he woke more fully, Thia pulled herself up and kissed his lips, drawing reassurance and protection from his love.

"Dot?" he asked, his voice heavy and thick with sleep. His arms supported her weight as she moved to sit up beside him, her legs draped over one of his on the sofa.

She shushed him, her eyes shining with so much emotion that she couldn't put words to. "Later. Right now, just kiss me."

Now fully awake, Wyatt was more than happy to oblige.

Just then, the commotion started in the other room where Azkadellia was in labor. Her screams tore through the night air as Thia and Wyatt jumped up and scurried to see if they could be of any help.

---

Thia watched the pacing man with a small smile on her face. She knew how much he hated being out here listening to the labor screams coming from behind the closed door instead of having his hand crushed as Azkadellia pushed the baby into the world. She had been in labor for almost nine hours and the suns were due to rise soon. It had been a long night for all of them, and it wasn't over yet.

"Sit down, Rian," Thia said with her smile firmly in place. She motioned toward the table where a silver coffee service sat prettily, "Have some coffee."

He glared at her, but stopped pacing for a moment to say, "How can I sit down when she's in so much pain and I can't do anything about it?" His hands gestured wildly as he spoke. Thia just raised her eyebrow and pointed to the sofa that was across the coffee table from her.

"You were in there with her and she kicked you out because you were gripping her hand harder than she was gripping yours." Thia took a dainty sip of her tea (Wyatt refused, point blank, to let her drink coffee in "her condition") and added, "Not to mention she said your singing is worse than Hoggle's."

Adrian growled low in his throat, his face tinted slightly pink at the insults, as he fell back on the sofa.

"There now," Thia said, pouring him a cup of coffee and handing it to him with a comforting smile. "It'll all be over soon, and then you can dote on Az and your baby."

Wyatt, standing beside the mantle and examining the portrait above it, snorted, "You'd think this was her first kid with the way you're acting, Zero."

The other man glared at him, and it had nothing to do with his habit of using his last name instead of his first. He took a drink of his coffee before responding, "Peanut was different and you know it, Cain."

He turned and grinned at the man currently fretting over the state of his lover. "She has three midwives in there, Zero. And Dot's out here if she needs magickal help. She'll be fine."

Thia nodded with a smile, pleased that her husband had been able to explain it so thoroughly.

Adrian's eye twinkled mischievously as he said, "You say that like she wasn't kicked out of there, too."

The princess glared at him, "It's not my fault that the midwives got territorial about me being in there. Or that our magicks were screwing with what they thought was supposed to happen."

The trio had lapsed into silence for a time, listening to Azkadellia being told to push as she screamed with the effort involved, when abruptly the screams of the mother stopped and an infant's angry wail pierced the night air. The sound sent elation through the three waiting in the antechamber.

Adrian sprang to his feet and ran into the bedroom, all other thoughts pushed aside.

Wyatt came around to sit beside his wife, one of his arms going around her shoulders, pulling her to lean her head over his heart, while the other hand rested protectively over her stomach.

"I love you," she whispered, putting her smaller hand over the one on her stomach. Their hands looked good together like that. Perhaps she should get one of the photographers to take a picture. Then an artist in the Labyrinth could paint it for the gallery. They'd need Jeb, though.

Wyatt kissed the top of her head, "I love you, too, darlin'."

---

Nesa dismounted quickly as one of the maids ran to meet her and her husband. She felt the weight in her pocket of the small box carrying the Emerald and tried not to think about what was about to happen.

"What is it?" she asked the maid she remembered being named Jincey.

Jincey curtsied prettily as she pointed to the house, "Princess Azkadellia has had her baby, your majesty."

Ahamo approached the pair, "Well? What was it? A boy or a girl?"

"I believe the baby to be female, your majesty," the maid replied. "Princess Azkadellia, Princess Thia, and their consorts are waiting for you in Princess Azkadellia's sitting room."

And just like that, the queen and prince consort were off to see their new granddaughter.

Nesa and Ahamo burst through the door to find a small group huddled around a figure sitting on the sofa.

"Little Lottie is very pretty, isn't she, Peanut?" Thia asked her niece.

The little girl babbled happily back at her aunt, reaching out to touch the sleeping baby nestled close to her father's heart. "Gently, Peanut," Adrian told the other child softly. "Lottie is too little for you to be rough with her."

Peanut's wide brown eyes looked at her second father wisely as if she knew the full meaning of his words. She nodded and pointed to Lottie's face, "Lo'ie." She pointed to herself and added firmly, "Mi'e."

Everyone grinned at the little girl. "That's right, Peanut, it's your sister, Lottie."

Nesa smiled, tears filling her eyes as she was nearly overcome with joy. "May I see her?" she asked, her voice soft for fear if she spoke louder she'd cry.

The group parted so that the queen could approach the father and baby sitting in the middle. Adrian rose and carefully passed his daughter to her grandmother.

Nesa smiled down at the sleeping baby. "She's perfect," she whispered. Looking up at her older granddaughter she added, "Just like you, Peanut."

"G'amma li' Lo'ie?" the older baby gurgled.

Nesa grinned at her, "Yes, dearest. I love Lottie just as much as I love you." Her attention turned to her younger daughter and her eyes grew fervent as she added, "Just as I love whatever grandchild you give me, my Angel."

For the first time in a long time Thia completely believed the words her mother told her.

---

"I need to talk to you, Wyatt," Thia said a short time after lunch that day.

He frowned at her tone as he nodded. "Let's go for a walk in the garden. It'll be too cold for very many walks outside soon."

Thia nodded with a smile, thanking him silently.

"This about your dream last night?" he asked when they were alone in the same garden where they had first met when she was five years old.

She nodded again, pulling closer to him again as if afraid she'd disappear if he didn't anchor her to this reality with his firmness.

"The Metatron came and spoke to me," she said at long last.

"_Lurline's_ Metatron?" Wyatt asked and Thia nodded silently. His eyebrows shot up at the very mention of the mouthpiece of the goddess who had created the O.Z. "What did he want?"

Thia looked down to where her small hands clasped her husband's. Her voice was soft and fearful as she responded, "Do you remember a few annuals back when you asked me about the past that never was and the future that never will be?"

His hand automatically tightened around hers and he used his other arm to pull her close. "Your dreams?" he asked, not needing to clarify.

She nodded into his chest. "He said that Lurline wants me to help ... _fix_ the damage the Witch inflicted."

Wyatt brought his arm around to tilt her face up so he could look into her eyes. "They want you to travel to a different _reality_ to fix something you didn't break?"

Thia nodded, "The Metatron said I was the only one who can fix it."

Her husband growled low in his throat as he hugged her as tightly as he dared. "In other words they don't want to go looking for someone in that reality to fix it so they came bugging ours. This sounds like a bad episode of that show you liked watching."

"_Stargate_? Yeah, I guess you're right," her laugh was muffled by his shirt, but that didn't matter. There were certainly times when watching shows from the Other Side just made her life seem quite silly.

"It's not a laughing matter, Dot," Wyatt groused even as he started to laugh himself. The absurdity of the situation finally striking him. "I don't know what they're expecting, though. Must be trouble."

She looked up at him with love and joy twinkling in her eyes, "What do you mean?"

His face turned serious as he said, "I've had trouble enough trying to understand just _you_, Dot. That other me is going to have to deal with _two_ of you."

His comments just served to send her into another laughing fit, which he soon joined her in.

---

A/N: I hit writer's block right in the middle of writing this chapter, so if you're wondering who you have to thank for this somewhat-on-time update it's Cat Yuy. With her comments I was able to revise the chapter and advance the plot enough without it getting too terribly confusing.

If any of you are confused, feel free to let me know. Oh, and Lottie is short for Charlotte Esmerelda Amelia Jane, in case you were curious.

Oh, yes, and if you're wondering why these people seem so familiar with Other Side culture, I'd just like to remind you of the last chapter of "A Different Life" when I informed you that it's part of the Goblin Crown duties to stay current with Other Side events and pop culture.

Carry on.


	3. Chapter 3

"What am I supposed to call him?" Thia asked her husband that night as they lay in bed that night. His arm was around her waist, his hand drawing inconsequential patterns over her stomach.

"Hm?" he mumbled sleepily, unsure what she was talking about.

"The you in the other reality," she explained. "What am I supposed to call him?"

"You could try Wyatt," the humor in his voice was clear in the dark bedroom.

She scowled into his chest, "No I can't."

"Why not?"

"Because if I call him Wyatt it's going to be a dead give away that _we're_ married."

"Fair enough. That might be a bit much for him to handle. What about Mr. Cain?"

Thia pulled back from her resting spot to look into his eyes, "The only time I call _you_ Mr. Cain is when we're --"

He put a finger to her lips to shush her , his mouth smirking, "Yes, but _he_ doesn't know that. I reckon his DG probably calls him Cain or some sort. Mr. Cain is fine. Just don't mention the only time you call _me_ that, alright, darlin'?"

Thia smiled against his finger. She nodded, giving it a quick kiss before she said, "All right, Mr. Cain."

His eyes drew dark with desire as her tone sent his blood south.

---

Thia walked into her sister's bedroom to find their mother already waiting for her. Sending her sister an encouraging smile, Thia asked the queen, "You wished to see me?"

Nesa nodded, motioning for her youngest child to sit down next to Azkadellia on the sofa near the fire. "There is much we must discuss before the Double Eclipse this afternoon. So much that you both need to be prepared for."

The younger princess took her sister's hand in hers as she met her mother's gaze, "The Metatron has already told me of my role in Lurline's plan, Mother."

"What have you been told?" Nesa furrowed her brow, concern and worry lining her face.

Thia's eyes flickered to her sister's face before focusing on their mother, "After the Eclipse I am to be sent to an alternate reality in order to repair some of the damage done in the past that never was and the future that never will be."

Azkadellia frowned, looking sharply at her younger sister. "They want you to traverse through realities? Why? Surely there is someone in that reality that can repair the damage."

"It matters not," Nesa replied, drawing her daughters' attention back to her, "They have chosen our Thia and there is nothing we can do but pray and follow our orders. Now, you two must become ready to enter the Stillness. Your minds must be open to the power and the Emerald must be with one of you at all times within that place."

"What should we expect, Mother?" Azkadellia asked, sitting up a little straighter in her seat.

"The Stillness Between is better known as the Faerey Mists on the Other Side, you will recall," Nesa began. Thia nodded, remembering her lessons about the Mists. "Getting there won't be an issue. You will both place your hands upon the Emerald and when the time is right it will transport you to the Stillness. Once there I am unsure what exactly will happen, but the Emerald will Choose one of you to be the next Queen of the O.Z."

"Didn't you do this with Uncle Jareth, Mother?" Thia asked curiously. "How can you not know what will happen to us within the Stillness?"

Nesa's eyes took on a glassy appearance as she thought about her brother and their own time in the Stillness. "It is different each time, my angels. The Emerald will not react to you in the same way it reacted to your uncle and myself. You must be prepared for anything."

"And when we come back?" Thia's voice was thick with apprehension.

"We will prepare for your journey and hopefully be ready by the time you leave."

The finality of her words sent a chill down the spines of both sisters. Azkadellia's hand tightened around Thia's as she tried not to dwell on the knowledge that she was about to set out on a journey and they had no idea when she'd be coming back.

---

Wyatt stared at the half written note in front of him, unsure if he had the nerve to continue but knowing that this was something he had to do. For the other version of him.

Dot had told him so much about her dreams, including what she knew had happened to him in the other reality. Stuck in an iron maiden for nigh on eight annuals watching his family torn from his side. He didn't know exactly what that must have been like, but he knew enough about his own personality to know that there were some things that he needed to tell that other version of himself.

Things that needed to be in his own hand writing and voice.

He loved his second wife dearly, but he had also loved his first wife. Even in that other reality he knew he had loved his first wife.

His head started to hurt thinking about two realities. Which one was more important? Was one more real than the other?

Wyatt shook his head as he picked up the pen again. Might as well tell the poor bloke everything he might need to know about Dot to prepare him for her antics -- especially if he had to worry about two versions of Dot and their antics together.

Soon he was engrossed in the writing and didn't hear the door to the study open until his son cleared his throat. "Dad? Mom told me to come find you. The Eclipse is going to start soon."

His father nodded curtly, "I'm almost done here, son." He sealed the letter and took it with him as he stood up and followed his son to the balcony where the rest of the royal family was gathered to watch the Double Eclipse temporarily darken the sky.

"You okay?" Wyatt asked as they walked the halls they had come to know well in the past annuals.

Jeb shook his head, running his fingers through the hair that his step-grandmother always insisted needed a trim. It was far too long for a prince in her opinion. But his step-mother had put her foot down, so to speak, on that account. Jeb could keep his hair at whatever length he pleased as long as it was kept and cared for properly.

"I don't like not knowing what's going to happen to Mom once the Eclipse is over. We don't even know _when_ she's going to be sent over to that other reality."

"Hey," Wyatt stopped walking and grabbed Jeb's shoulders, forcing him to turn and meet him. "It's going to be all right, Jeb. Your mom's going to be fine. You _have_ to believe that she's going to be fine. _Everyone_ is going to be fine."

Jeb embraced his father in a manner that he hadn't done in almost nine annuals. He didn't care if it was probably all just lies -- he needed to know that his father thought everything was going to be fine. Maybe if he believed it hard enough it might be true.

---

Thia frowned when she saw her husband and step-son come into the room. Something was amiss in her happy little family. With one hand she absently rubbed her stomach over where Wyatt's second child lay growing. Jeb's baby brother or sister.

"Are you okay, Jeb?" she asked, walking toward the two men confidently. When she reached them she put her hand on Jeb's forehead, feeling for a fever like she had so many times in the past. "Your head's a bit warm, why don't you come sit down."

Beady little eyes peered out at the young prince from Thia's hair.

Jeb rolled his eyes at his step-mother, "I'm fine, Mom. You shouldn't worry so much. Leena said it wasn't good for the baby."

Thia scowled at him, both of her hands firmly planted on her hips, "I'll worry and fuss about you all I want to, mister. Nothing Leena says is going to change that."

The teenage boy jumped up from his seat and embraced her fiercely. "I'm gonna miss you while you're gone, Mom," he whispered, trying to choke back the tears that threatened to overflow.

Thia felt her heart break at his words. She squeezed him back in a warm embrace. "Don't worry, Jeb. I'll be fine -- and I'll keep the baby safe, too."

He held on tighter for a few more moments but finally relaxed his grasp and kept his gaze fixed on the floor as he stepped back. He refused to meet anyone's eyes as Thia gave her husband a quick kiss on the cheek and he put the letter beneath her breast band. A pair of tiny goblin hands took the letter, letting it shrink so Thia wouldn't be bothered by it poking her.

She blinked back the tears in her eyes as she went to stand beside her sister, who had already had her own words of comfort from her consort. Azkadellia was sitting in a wheelchair that had been brought up so she wouldn't have to exert herself so soon after giving birth.

Thia took her sister's hand and their free hands went to cover the unadorned wooden box that held the Emerald within.

All eyes on the balcony went to the rapidly darkening sky, as the suns hid behind their darker sister. There was a soft glow of green light that emanated from the Emerald and radiated out, encompassing the two sisters in it's rays.

Wyatt, Jeb, and Adrian all watched in muted fascination as both women, and the box they held, disappeared into the green glow.

---

Thia opened her eyes only to be confronted with a green mist that surrounded her and Azkadellia. It was so thick she couldn't see a thing aside from her sister, and the box they held jointly in their hands.

"Az? I'm scared," Thia whispered, losing whatever composure she had in front of their loved ones. Unthinking, she let go of the Emerald and grasped on to Azkadellia's free hand in the same way she had done when they were little and lost in the woods: the mist was forming tendrils to crawl up her arms and legs, as if it was begging her to stay.

Azkadellia grasped her sister's hand just as tightly. "Just hold my hand, Deej. Nothing can hurt us if we stay together."

_So wise for one so young._

It wasn't just one voice, but the sound of a multitude of voices speaking it harmony. It seemed to come from nowhere and everywhere around them. It was similar to how the Labyrinth spoke to her, but Thia didn't feel so utterly open and vulnerable when the Labyrinth spoke to her mind.

_You have no cause to fear us, Little Dark Light._

"Who are you?" Thia asked, her voice strong despite her weak knees and tight grip.

_We are the Outer Zone. We are those that came before. We are what you see around you._

"What do you want?" Thia asked, her eyes wide as she pulled closer to Az's body.

_To claim our next queen, Little Dark Light. Have no fear, she will not be you. Perhaps in a different life you would rule our lands and inhabitants, but not in this one. We can feel your bond to our own sister. It is a bond we have no desire to break._

A burden was released from the shoulders of both sisters knowing what their futures now held.

_Perhaps, though, you would prefer to stay with us for a time. To learn about your ancestry and the other half of your magick._

The weaving tendrils of green mist were now pulling at Thia's body, attempting to break the link between her and Azkadellia.

"NO!" both of the women shouted in unison, their combined light pushing back the mists.

The voices sounded amused and pleased with the response.

_Very well then. Be returned, Little Dark Light, to your bond mate's side, as our next queen is returned to her consort's arm. You have our blessings and protection._

Thia and Azkadellia were returned to their former places on the balcony. The younger princess let go of the death grip of her sister's hand and raced to her husband's arms.

A voice only the two of them could hear spoke in a clipped English accent, _"You have until the day after tomorrow at sunrise. Be ready."_

* * *

A/N: Sorry it took so long. Sorry it's so short.

Happy New Year! I'll try to sweeten the pot for you guys and update again before the week is out. I was on vacation with very limited computer access this past week, and before that I was under a very heavy load of finals.

Now that I'm on break I should be able to update at the very least once a week (probably more but don't quote me on that).


	4. Chapter 4

The rest of the day was spent in preparation for the celebratory ball that would be held to commemorate Azkadellia's status as Crown Princess of the O.Z. and making sure that Wyatt and Jeb would be all right while Thia was taking care of things in the alternate reality.

"I just don't like you having to go by yourself, is all," Wyatt told his wife as she signed some papers for her uncle. She looked up from signing the elongated form of her name, her eyebrows raised. Wyatt shifted as he leaned against a desk a few yards away from Thia's.

"I can't exactly change that, Wyatt." She shrugged, putting down her pen as she came around the desk to stand between his legs. "If I'd made the plans, then you'd be coming with me in a heartbeat. I don't like the idea of leaving you and Jeb here by yourselves, for who knows how long, and more than you like watching me go."

Wyatt wrapped his arms around his wife's waist, pulling her closer to him. "You just have to get everything done real quick, okay? I don't want you gone any longer than you have to be."

Thia looked up at her husband with a small smile, "I'll try my best. Not sure how quick I can be if I have to convince another version of you that he's the best thing a princess could ever need."

A smile played at his mouth as he leaned in a little further, "Don't forget about the kingdom. It would be falling apart without me, Dot."

She giggled at that, her eyes twinkling with mirth, "Yes, I'm sure that the griffins agree with you ever since you signed that order for them to keep to their hunting grounds instead of letting them roam the country side like they'd been doing."

He just smirked against her mouth, "Can't please everybody."

Thia's face crumpled as they pulled apart. Tears welled in her eyes as she sniffed.

Wyatt's face fell at her downcast look, "Dot, what's wrong? Talk to me."

She tried to smile, but it turned out pathetic and watery instead of the reassuring look she was going for. "It's just the hormones, Wyatt. I'll be fine in a minute."

He brushed her tears away with his thumbs, caressing her cheeks as he did so. "Liar," he whispered softly.

His accusation, which she could not refute, caused more tears to fall. "I'm gonna miss you so much."

She went into his arms willingly as he cradled her to his chest. He took one of her hands in his and put it over his heart, the beat somewhat calming her.

"Everything's going to be fine, Dot. You'll be back before you know it."

Her wide eyes looked up at him through the tears. "Liar."

---

"Deej?"

"Yeah, Az?"

"What exactly does 'fix' entail?"

Thia leaned up on her elbows, heedless of the grass stains that were sure to appear on her sleeves. It was her last day in her reality until Lurline knew when, and she had decided to spend some time with Az laying on their favorite grassy knoll and staring at the clouds. She should have known her sister was incapable of sitting in silence for a few hours when she had questions on her mind.

"Actually, no, I don't. I'll probably have to take care of the magickal chaos that's starting to form over there. You know: teach that other version of me how to use her magick, fix your magick, kill another witch, stop the Labyrinth from falling into complete disrepair, and stop a civil war. The usual."

Az smiled at her little sister. "Only you would call something like that usual, little sister."

Thia just grinned at her as she fell back on the grass, her thoughts now focusing on exactly what she might be asked to fix once she was in the other reality.

---

The rest of the day seemed to fly by as Thia and everyone else attempted to forget that she would not be there on the morrow and there was no guarantee when she would be home again.

She had no intention of sleeping at all that night, knowing that it would be the last for who knew how long that she'd be able to be with her husband, she was going to make the most of it.

With a small smirk, Thia looked at the pile of clothing before her. The second sun's rays had been absent from the sky for two hours, and the rest of the family had retired to their quarters for the evening. Wyatt was in the bathroom, cleaning up as she decided what she would be wearing on her quest.

"You cannot take my hat," her husband declared as he came out of the bathroom and saw his prized fedora sitting atop the pile of clothes.

His wife frowned at him as she turned to look at him, covered only by a towel. "Why not? It's not like you wear it as much as you used to."

She picked it up as she backed away from his approach. With deft fingers she plopped it on top of her head, "Besides, it looks better on me than it does on you anyway."

Wyatt bit back a smirk at his wife's antics, deciding he might as well play along with this cat and mouse game she seemed to want so much. "Yes, but it's my hat."

Thia mimicked him as she felt the wall at her back, "Yes, and I'll be taking it with me."

"Any way I can change your mind about that?" Wyatt asked as he cornered her next to one of the armoires that lines the room.

Her eyes were too bright as she leaned her head back to look him in the eyes. "Kiss me."

---

Hours later Wyatt and Thia lay spooned together on the bed, his hand drawing patterns on the skin that hid his child growing within her.

"Dot?" he asked.

"Hmm?"

"You're not really going to take my hat, are you?"

She smiled slightly at the concern in his voice. "No, Wyatt. I'm not going to take your hat. But I am taking your favorite shirt and the quilt your mother made for us."

He frowned slightly and pulled her so that she was facing him. "Mom's quilt? Why?"

Her smile was sad as she kissed him lightly, "Because I don't think I'll be able to sleep without your smell around me -- or that quilt."

Wyatt brought his lips to hers and attempted to kiss away all the sadness. When he pulled back for air he whispered, "Come back safe, Dot."

"I'll do my best, Wyatt," her breathing hitched as she spoke.

Her husband wiped away her tears before kissing her forehead again. "Come on, time to get up. The first sun rises in about an hour."

The look in her eyes turned sultry, "That's time enough for a bath, wouldn't you say?"

He gave her an appraising look, "Not the kind of bath you want to take."

Thia rose onto her knees on the bed at Wyatt reached for his shirt. "Please, Mr. Cain? I promise I'll be a good little princess."

As he carried his wife to the tub, Wyatt wondered briefly how he was ever able to refuse her requests.

---

After a bath that was a bit longer than Wyatt thought they had time for, and a bit shorter than Thia had wanted, the couple dressed in silence.

Wyatt rolled his eyes as he saw his wife put on his favorite shirt over her breast band. Apparently she hadn't been joking that she was going to take it with her.

She slipped off her wedding and engagement rings and slid them onto a leather cord that Wyatt tied securely onto her neck. There was no way on this side of the Faerey Mists that she was going to lose those rings, even if she did have to hide them.

Instead of giving her his six shooter and holster to put on over her belt, Wyatt handed his wife a dagger he had planned on giving her for the solstice, but now there was no point in putting it off. Thia took it with a heavy heart, praying to Lurline that she'd never have to use it.

Even wearing the overly large shirt loose over a comfortable pair of cotton pants, it was still quite noticeable to her family that Thia was pregnant when the couple joined them in Azkadellia's sitting room. Thia said her goodbyes to her sister's family quickly, lingering a little on Peanut and Lottie. When she turned to Jeb to find the lad holding a letter to his other self she had to choke back a sob.

"I'll be back soon," she whispered as he slipped the letter to one of the goblins on his step-mother's person.

"I know, Mom," he whispered back. "But I'll still miss you."

"I'll miss you too, Jeb." Especially you calling me Mom, she thought as she turned to find her husband holding the quilt she had requested to take with her.

No words were spoken between husband and wife as he handed her their wedding quilt that had warmed their bed every night since that first one three annuals ago. She clutched it close to her chest, her eyes locked with his.

He silently begged her to watch out and be careful.

She wordlessly promised she'd protect their baby with all her might.

He asked her to come back to him.

She promised that she would as quickly as she could.

He vowed his love for her.

She vowed her love for him.

No words were spoken.

As the first rays of the first sun brought light to the O.Z., the royal Gale family and the Cain family watched as the Crown Princess seemed to shimmer out of existence. Just as the Metatron had said.

---

Thia jumped slightly as she felt her body rematerialize in the other reality. She was face to face with her husband's six shooter.

With wide eyes she cast a shield, her eyes never leaving the barrel of the gun pointed at her head.

"Who the hell are you?" his gruff voice demanded.

Thia's eyes narrowed at his tone. This was definitely not her husband. She shifted the blanket in her arms so that she could gesture with one hand, "I'm Princess Dorothy Galinda Susanna Ozma Maria Gale!" She had to stop herself before she added "Cain" to the end of her already lengthy name. Instead she just glared at him the same way she glared at her Wyatt when he really pissed her off, "Who the hell do you think you are? Pointing a gun at a pregnant woman like she was a common criminal."

Now that she had moved the blanket so that it wasn't blocking the site of her stomach, the truth of her words was evident to all who saw her.

"Put the gun down, Mr. Cain," a meeker form of Azkadellia's voice told the older man.

His eye twitched as he debated whether or not he should ignore the order.

"If she had any intention of killing us, Mr. Cain, your gun could not stop her."

Thia's eyes broke the staring match to glance at the woman who was a different version of her beloved sister. She frowned at the sight that met her eyes. Azkadellia looked too weak to be allowed out of bed -- she was paler than the sister Thia had just left with a newborn daughter. Standing behind Azkadellia were Glitch, and their mother and father. Off to the side, on the far end of the room stood Raw. Briefly Thia wondered where Jeb and her own double were.

Sending a silent, challenging glare to the disgruntled Tin Man, Thia dropped her shield and called a mug of her Azkadellia's favorite tea to her hand. Someone -- she wasn't exactly sure who, and she really didn't care -- took in a sharp breath at the sight of her magick used so easily.

Thia passed the mug to Azkadellia, "Here, drink this. It'll help."

"Thank you," Azkadellia's voice was shaky, as were her hands, when she took the cup, but she drank the steaming liquid all the same.

A door opened and Thia knew her double had just entered the room when she heard someone sigh and she said, "Okay. That's the last time I let you guys give me tea without telling me what's in it."

Thia smiled and turned to face a version of herself that was a great deal skinnier and spunkier. Beside her stood a more rugged version of her step-son, complete with near shoulder length hair. "Hate to break it to you, DG," she said with a light voice, "But it wasn't the tea."

DG sized up the alternate version of herself with quick eyes. "Is this some kind of a joke?"

The mask of humor fell from Thia's face as she set the quilt down on the chaise beside Azkadellia and approached DG. Cain stopped her, however, before she was within ten feet of the younger princess.

"Let's see what Raw says first. If you are ... her, then you won't mind." Thia could tell that the man was as confused as her husband had been when he'd heard the news, but she didn't let it show.

Instead, Thia inclined her head softly toward Raw and went to stand beside him. She greeted him in his native language, "Master Raw it is an honor. May your senses be keen and show you the truth humans try to hide."

Raw rumbled low in his chest as he assessed the compliment as well as the emotions Thia made no attempt to hide from him.

"I believe Mr. Cain would be most at ease if you were to show them some of my memories on the mirror," Thia said coolly. Sometimes it paid to have spent years at court. She could also insult a man in ten different languages without batting an eyelash.

Raw nodded, motioning for her to sit down close to a mirror. He put both of his hands on her head and she could feel Bing scurry not to be caught in the process. The Viewer rumbled again before opening his eyes, "Is who claims to be. From alternate reality."

"Show me," DG demanded, her eyes wide as she took in the obvious pregnant state of her double.

The Viewer shook his head, "Cannot. Raw sense multiple life signs."

"That's because she's pregnant," the younger princess countered.

He shook his head again, "Raw sense five life signs."

Everyone's eyes turned to Thia and she shrugged, "I'm really pregnant?" At Cain's no nonsense look she grumbled, "Well, Jeb thought it was funny."

They all turned to look at Jeb, whose face was as impassive as ever, and he just shrugged. Cain's glare grew glacial and she knew it was time to stop playing around.

Thia rolled her eyes, "Fine. Ding, Bing, Ring, front and center!"

Quick as a wink, three blurry shadows separated themselves from Thia and formed a line in front of her. Cain's gun rose as the blurs grew into their normal two foot tall selves. Jeb's eyes were as wide as DG's, and it was all Ahamo could do not to smirk at the sight of the three small goblins.

"Happy now?" Thia asked no one in general. "Meet Ding, Bing, and Ring. My bodyguards."

Cain holstered his gun and turned to glare at the woman who looked so similar to his princess. The one thing he couldn't figure out was why she was wearing a man's shirt. "I'll be 'happy' once Raw confirms you are who you say you are and once you tell us why you're here."

Ding groaned, falling down between his two brothers. "Long story," the goblin moaned.

"Terribly long story!" Bing added, falling down beside his brother to groan and roll around on the floor.

"Take ages to tell! Hours!" Ring finished before kicking his brothers and moving to sit on top of the quilt.

"Don't you dare get that dirty," Thia scowled at the goblin.

Ring shook his head, "Took bath yesterday. All clean now. Won't get prince-man's blanket dirty. Never, ever. Promise."

Thia nodded once, "All right, then."

DG just watched the goblins and wondered who the hell ordered the Jim Henson puppets to come to life.

* * *

A/N: For the record: I was going to update this yesterday but I accidentally locked myself out of my room and had to wait until about two hours ago before I could get back in. Terribly sorry, but here's your update!

Happy New Year!


	5. Chapter 5

Thia sat patiently while Raw searched her memories, picking only the most relevant ones to show to everyone that was gathered. Okay, more like Thia searched through her memories and shoved appropriate ones at Raw's mind for him to share with the others. The shocked group watched as the Witch was destroyed when she was five annuals old; she was wished away to live in the Labyrinth; she grew up learning how to be a good queen with a doting uncle and body guards who often fought her to keep her safe; Azkadellia gave her the pendant that represented their bond together as sisters; she met Colonel Cain after Az was kidnapped.

Thia pulled away after that last memory, she didn't want to relive those years, and her life would just raise too many questions that the people in front of her weren't ready to face.

Her baby blue eyes met Cain's icy blue gaze, "I think that's enough proof for you, Mr. Cain." Her voice was too soft for her fiery demeanor, but he didn't comment.

"Those memories still do not explain why you are here and not there," Glitch commented. His eyes were hard as he tried to wrap his half a brain around the concept of living a different life like that.

The warped version of his new friend and princess that sat before them turned to look at him. It was some time before Thia finally found the appropriate words with which to commence. "For the past four months Lurline has ... gifted me with dreams of this reality." She met Jeb's eyes briefly as she said, "Horrible dreams about a path my world never had to walk down."

She spotted a water pitcher and cup on a table and called to them. The pitcher poured fresh water into the cup and then both smoothly sailed through the air to land on the side table beside her. Thia picked up the cup and took a sip, heedless of the eyes that were staring at her as if she had grown a second head.

"A few days ago, while the four of you were running around trying to find the Emerald of the Eclipse, I had a visit from an Alan Rickman look-alike," she continued.

DG's eyebrows rose to hide beneath her bangs as she reviewed the statement. "How the hell do you know who Alan Rickman is?"

Thia's smirk was small as she replied, "Part of the duty of the Goblin Crown is to stay abreast of the popular culture on the Other Side. I've also seen every episode of The Twilight Zone, DG, as well as every movie and television show that you've ever seen."

DG pointed a finger at her as she said, "That has to be the weirdest thing that I've ever heard."

"Weirder than finding out you were raised by robots?" Thia shot back without missing a beat. "Or finding out that you were the long lost princess of a magickal realm and there was a crazy Witch out to kill you just because you were still alive?" Thia's eyes twinkled as she thought about the memories she had of this woman that no one else in the room knew about. "Weirder than when Elmer Gulch --"

"Point taken," DG said loudly, sending a glare to her look-alike. "No need to bring Gulch into this." The way she said the name made Cain want to find out what had happened between the two of them.

Thia nodded once in agreement. "The Metatron informed me a few days ago that I would be leaving my reality and coming here in order to help ... fix some of the damage that's been inflicted in the past fifteen annuals by the Witch."

DG interrupted her again, "Wait a second. The Metatron looks like Alan Rickman?"

Thia nodded, "Straight from Dogma, no less. Complete with British accent, black wardrobe, and snide personality. Anything else?"

"Does that mean that Lurline looks like Alanis Morrisette?" DG asked, her brow furrowed in curiousity.

Thia snorted at the prospect of the most powerful being in the whole universe looking like a disgruntled grunge singer. "I don't think so," she whispered for fear of laughing if she spoke any louder.

Ahamo cleared her throat, attempting to focus the girls' attention back on the issue at hand rather than discussing Other Side personalities that he knew virtually nothing about. He vaguely remembered an Alan Rickman who was popular in BBC miniseries dramas, but Tim Curry had been more his thing. "What exactly have you been asked to 'fix' in this reality, Dorothy?"

Thia winced at the tone and the name, "Call me Thia. There is only one person who calls me Dorothy and the only reason I don't stop him from doing so is because he's an old fox who taught me swordplay and it took me far too long to get him to stop calling me 'my lady' every single time we spoke." She took another drink of water before continuing, "And I don't know what I'm supposed to fix. But I do have an idea of where to start."

She turned to look at the skinnier, non-pregnant version of herself wordlessly. This prompted everyone else in the room to look at DG, as well.

"What?" DG, who had been fidgeting in her seat despite the serious nature of their discussion, asked.

Cain bit back a smirk at his -- no, the princess.

"You only have a slight, tenuous grasp on your magick, DG," Thia explained. "That will have to come first. Also, you will need to learn how to dance properly, and how to defend yourself effectively. I know you took some self-defense classes on the Other Side, but those were mostly geared toward temporarily disabling your attacker so that you could run away. Hardly effective if you're caught unawares and your bodyguards have already been ... disabled."

DG paled slightly at the use of the term 'disabled.' She knew what Thia had silently said: "If Cain dies trying to protect you."

"Azkadellia might as well sit in on our lessons," Thia smoothly transitioned. "There is a benefit to knowing how to protect yourself without magick."

Azkadellia looked up from her cup of tea, unsure what to say. In place of words she nodded, silently agreeing to whatever this odd version of her sister thought best.

Wide, blue eyes that were mirror images of her own caught Thia's gaze. "Do you think you can do something about Glitch's brain?" The group seemed to pause, as if they were all standing on a pinpoint waiting to see what she would say.

Thia shook her head, "I cannot." The whole group deflated at her words. Instead of letting their hope fade completely she added, "Azkadellia will have to put it back in."

That comment caused a number of different voices to raise in order to be heard shouting out how awful of an idea it was and that Thia better damn well think up a better one because there was no way it was going to fly in those parts.

She let the shouting continue for almost a whole minute before she waved her hand and everyone found their vocal cords refusing to cooperate.

With a smile she heaved a sigh in relief, "That's better. Let's try that again, shall we? Azkadellia's magick was used in the removal of the brain, it must be used in the reconnection." She made eye contact with everyone in the room, stopping on Ahamo at long last. "And you need to shave your muttonchops off."

Another wave of her hand and they found their vocal chords released from captivity.

Ahamo's hands went self consciously to his face. "What's wrong with my muttonchops?" he asked Thia defensively, as if she had a razor hidden in her hand and was going to shave them off regardless of what he had to say.

Their visitor didn't answer verbally. Instead she just raised an eyebrow critically as she just rose from her seat and made for the door.

When Cain motioned for his son to follow her she sighed heavily and turned to face him. "I know my way around Finaqua better than you do, Mr. Cain. And I doubt Jeb wants to stand outside the bathroom waiting for me because my baby is pushing on my bladder."

While they were staring at her, flabbergasted at her blunt honesty, Thia made her escape to the privacy of the bathroom. At least there she'd be able to cry in peace.

Ding got up from his spot on the floor, noiselessly and swiftly following his princess to try to keep her out of harm's way.

---

No one was quite sure what to say. Cain and Jeb were still in shock over the idea of having two versions of DG wandering around. They may have only known the princess for a few short days, but since the Eclipse her ability to get into trouble had risen exponentially.

They sat in an uncomfortable silence for some time before DG couldn't take it any longer, "I take it this isn't an every day occurrence, then?"

Azkadellia shook her head, "There's less than a handful of accounts of realities interacting like this."

"How many is less than a handful?" DG prodded, unsure how she felt about having an alternate version of herself running around. At least in Stargate SG-1 they were used to dealing with the unexpected.

"Uh, I believe this makes three," Glitch replied, his eyes darting back and forth in a manner that told his companions he was briefly remembering something he was meant to forget.

Cain watched the two goblins still in the room watch him and Jeb with interest. He'd only actually met goblins a few times before, when visiting Adora's family, but there was something about these goblins that seemed different from the ones he had met before. They still had that rowdy quality about them, but they were more contained, almost as if they were waiting for something.

The one he remembered as Ring whispered something to Bing, their eyes never leaving his from where they sat on top of that quilt that woman -- Thia, had brought with her.

"Wait a second," DG said, holding a hand up and causing the other conversations to stop. She looked at her mother curiously. Aerenesa sat in a spindly chair looking as calm and regal as ever. "Why aren't you more upset about this, Mother?"

Nesa shifted slightly in her chair as her lavender eyes met her daughter's baby blues. She looked away after only a few moments. "The Metatron has also visited me and told we would have a visitor."

"That's why you pushed us to leave the Tower so soon," DG accused, her eyes wide. "So we'd be here to meet her."

"Finaqua is safer, my angel," Nesa tried to explain the other part of her reasoning to her irate child, but it wasn't working.

"Azkadellia wasn't ready to travel," DG snapped, her feet subconsciously moving to pace the length of the floor. "Raw told you that. Jeb's medic told you that."

Nesa's eyes flashed in anger, "Do not take that tone with me, DG. Your sister was strong enough. She will heal faster at Finaqua, and it will make a better base for our armies."

"No it won't," a new voice said from near the doorway.

DG and Nesa turned to look at the woman who had entered unnoticed while they were arguing. Thia stepped further into the room, one hand resting on her stomach protectively. Cain's eyes narrowed at the hint of red the rimmed her eyes, but no one else noticed the one hint that she had been crying.

"Central City would be better, but it's not an option, now is it?" Thia added, moving to look at some of the maps that were already out to help planning. Her eyes flickered to Jeb, knowing he had the most knowledge of where their fighters were at the moment.

Jeb mulled over his response for a time before he finally said, "Most of the Resistance's ... active force was at the Tower two days ago. When we left yesterday, everyone came with us."

Thia arched an eyebrow quizzically as her eyes bored into the younger man who had seen far too much. "Most? What is that precisely? Six of ten? Nine of ten?"

He closed his eyes briefly, wondering if the humiliation of how bad off the Resistance was would sting for very much longer. His voice was gruff in an attempt to stave off the embarrassment, "Eight of ten. We numbered eighty-seven at the start of the battle and sixty-three at the end."

There was silence as more than one member of the group looked at Thia, daring her to mock their efforts. At long last she nodded and gave Jeb a small smile, "I was expecting worse. You've done more than anyone could have ever asked of you, Jeb. Both before and after."

Jeb cocked his head to one side, his eyes narrowing on hers. "How much do you know, exactly?" If his voice was a little patronizing, she didn't let any annoyance about it show in her face.

Thia motioned for Bing and Ring to pick up the quilt and bring it to her. "I know that you've just completed a long journey and that we all need to rest. Everything else can wait for a few hours." Her eyes fell on Azkadellia and she smiled a bitter smile, "Well, almost everything."

With sure steps, Thia approached the washed up version of her sister. Her magick flickered in dark blue against her skin as she offered her hand to the older princess. "Let's see what we can do about you, hm?"

Azkadellia looked up at her with a trust she only saw in wished away children. With a determined set to her jaw, she put her quivering hand on top of Thia's, letting her dark light flow into her.

DG took a step closer to her sister as the dark blue light danced around Thia's arm and led a lighter blue light into Azkadellia's body. It was a beautiful, captivating sight that seemed to have everyone enthralled.

As the darker light pulled out of Azkadellia's now softly glowing form, Thia's free hand moved as if it was holding a crystal orb within it. An orb did form as a light as black as pitch was dispelled from Azkadellia's nostrils. The black light filled the orb completely full before Thia let go of Az's hand and the two opened their eyes.

"What is that thing?" Jeb asked with a look of fascination and disgust on his face.

Thia smirked, looking none the worse for wear after the great display of magick. She twirled the crystal on the back of her hands just like her uncle had taught her. "It's a crystal. Nothing more."

"But if you turn this way and look into it," DG mimicked David Bowie's accent as she glared at Thia. "Don't tell me that movie really happened."

Thia stopped playing with the orb and looked at her counterpart with a clear look in her eyes. "The story didn't go exactly like that, no. Sarah Williams altered it to make it more ... acceptable for audiences on the Other Side. But the tale that it tells of a Goblin King and the woman he asks to be his queen ... that is truth and yes, it really happened."

"Really?" DG asked, her head tilting to one side as she thought about that. This really was way too screwed up. "But the man from your memories --"

"Only bears a passing resemblance to David Bowie?" Thia interrupted her. "Henson, of course, changed some things, and he didn't want an unknown playing the part of our dearest Uncle Jareth."

Ahamo knew the names Bowie and Henson. He cut into the conversation to make sure that he was understanding it properly, "Are you telling me that the guy who was Ziggy Stardust for three years and knows more about costumes and makeup than most women on the Other Side played your uncle in a movie that was directed by the guy who created Sesame Street?"

"Yup," DG confirmed with a look to Thia, who was nodding affirmatively.

"And on that happy note," Thia said, "Taking this taint out of Azkadellia required more energy than it should have and I would greatly appreciate a few hours of sleep before we discuss battle plans."

"What's a taint?" DG furrowed her brow.

"The Witch's contingency plan," Thia replied. "If Azkadellia were ever to find a way to become free, she would slowly wither away physically and mentally."

Nesa took in a sharp breath, but quickly composed herself. "I believe you are correct, Thia. A rest would benefit all of us. It has been a very long week for everyone. Young Mr. Cain, would you please escort our guest to one of the bedrooms that are not in use on this level."

Jeb bowed to the queen, "Yes, your majesty. If you'll follow me, Princess."

Thia gave him an odd look as she picked up the quilt from the goblins and they shrunk to their "travel size" and hopped onto her person. "You have no idea how weird it is to hear you call me that, Jeb. Thia is fine."

As they left the room, Jeb asked her, "What does the other me call you?"

She smirked at him, unsure if she should tell him that. "Nice try, Jeb. But I'm not sure you really want to know that."

"Damn, now I'm curious," the young man said with a small smile. He wasn't sure what to make of this odd version of DG, but at least she wasn't pushing him to try to be like the version of him that she knew.

Thia chuckled. When he stopped in front of a door she turned and looked at him pensively, "You're a lot like him, Jeb, even if you two had radically different lives."

Jeb blushed slightly at that, looking down instead of into her knowing blue eyes that were so similar to DG's but so different at the same time. His gaze came to rest on her stomach and he cleared his throat. "I'm not -- you know ..."

She snorted at the prospect of her Jeb being her baby's father. "No," she said firmly, "You're not the father of this baby, Jeb."

He sighed in relief, unsure how he'd be able to look at either version of DG again if that had been the case.

"I have something for you," she said, steeling the resolve within herself before she chickened out and didn't give him the letter. "From the other you."

"Really?" he wasn't quite sure how he should feel about getting something from a different version of himself. He held out his hand as Thia reached into her hand and seemingly pulled a letter out of the dark, loose waves.

Thia handed it to him with a mask in place that let none of her emotions filter through. "You might want to read it when you're alone."

The younger man just nodded, unsure what he could say in response. He took the letter, which he found to be written in his own tight script, and bowed before moving down the hallway to his own room.

* * *

A/N: Umm ... Would you believe me if I told you that my muse likes making fun of my favorite actors? I had to fight quite a lot with her so as you wouldn't have to read any cheesy _Die Hard_ jokes in this chapter. The David Bowie jokes were the compromise. She thought it would be best not to have too many Alan Rickman jabs so close together.

Despite appearances I really do like Alan Rickman and David Bowie and Jim Henson. But my muse made me do it!

Please don't eat the daisies, but feeing the plot bunny is encouraged and appreciated.


	6. Chapter 6

Jeb sat on the edge of his bed, the letter on the quilt in front of him. He'd been sitting like that, staring at the unopened correspondence, for the better part of an hour.

It wasn't that he was afraid to open the letter. It was just that he was afraid to read what he would have turned out like if he'd grown up with both of his parents. He was afraid of what he might say to himself.

There was a knock on his door that he could tell by the pressure and sound belonged to his father. "Come in," he called out.

After a few seconds, his father did just that and entered the small bedroom Jeb had commandeered for the stay in Finaqua. Cain's eyes focused in on the folded paper in front of his son's indecisive form. "What's that?" he asked, not unkindly.

Jeb's eyes flickered up to his father's before shrugging, "Thia gave it to me. Said it's from the ... other me."

Cain nodded, moving to sit in the chair placed strategically close to the bed. He sat in silence, not sure how to bring up what the Queen had suggested to him a short while before. In the end, he didn't have to worry about it.

"What'd the queen say after I left?" his son asked blandly. He could have been asking what they were having for dinner for all the interest he put into the question.

"She wants to put Thia in charge of troop movements." The venom in his voice was hard to miss as he said her name.

Jeb looked up at his father, "You don't like her?"

Cain shook his head slightly, "It's not that. I don't like what she represents. The idea that there was ever a different way to go in the past ... it doesn't do you good thinkin' about it."

Jeb nodded, understanding what he was saying, "You can't second guess yourself -- especially if you're in charge of other people's lives."

His father nodded toward the letter, "You gonna open it?"

He shook his head, "I'm not sure. His life was so different from mine, why tempt fate?"

"But you're curious, aren't you?" Cain asked, leaning forward slightly. "I know you, son. No matter what reality you're in, you're still curious. It's not a crime."

Jeb swallowed a lump in his throat and reached for the letter. Maybe he could steal some of his father's calm confidence and read what the other version of himself had written. The paper felt thick and heavy in his hands as he turned it over to break the seal. He paused before he injured the red wax. The mark looked familiar somehow. It wasn't the mark of the House of Gale, no, it was the mark of the Goblin Crown. Curious. Why would this other version of him be using the crest of the Goblin Crown? Only Goblin royalty were allowed to use the crest.

His eyes widened slightly as he realized what it meant, but he quickly masked his expression and broke the seal. Underneath the dried wax was a small message to himself, "Don't let Dad read this." He couldn't have been any clearer if he'd been in the room with him.

He cleared his throat, "I think I want to be alone while I read whatever it is this guy has to say to me."

Cain nodded, accepting as gracefully as possible that he was being kicked out of his son's room. "I'm just gonna go check on the princesses, then. Son."

Jeb waited until his father had cleared the room and the door had clicked shut before he looked back at the letter in his hands. Now what?

He unfolded the thick paper and began to read:

Jeb -

I know this must be strange for you, reading a letter from me and all, but don't worry, it's just as strange for me to be writing it. There are a few things I have to tell you that I know the princess won't.

Where to start? I guess I better start from the beginning:

When I was only a few weeks old our mother left me on Grandma and Grandpa's porch and ran away. She isn't the same woman in this reality as she is in yours. Thia is the only mother I've ever really known, don't resent her for that, please. Dad and she got married almost four annuals ago, but she's been my mother for far longer.

I can't imagine what it must have been like for you, living the way you have: growing up without Father; living on the run as part of the Resistance; never knowing if you were going to live through the night. All I know is the life that I've led. It may not be as exciting as yours, but I'm from an entirely different world.

Can you watch out for her for me? Make sure she doesn't push too hard, rests regularly, and eats? Please? I don't know what Dad or I would do if anything happened to her.

Part of me wants to tell you so much more, but I probably shouldn't for your sake as well as mine. Please give her a hug from me -- tell her it's for the baby.

Watch your back.

-Jeb

P.S. Have her make you a chocolate cake. It's almost as good as Grandma's.

He reread the letter at least three times to make sure that he understood completely what the other version of him was saying. If his father and Thia had married four annuals ago, he would have only been twelve. When he was twelve he had spent most of the time acting as a carrier between Resistance Cells while his mother helped coordinate attacks on Azkadellia's holdings, taking up where his father had left off.

A lonely tear slid down his cheek unchecked as he thought through everything this man had that he'd never been able to grasp.

---

DG looked out the French doors that led to Azkadellia's balcony. The view was serene and just like she remembered from when she was a little girl. God, she wished she had her sketchbook with her. At least then she'd be able to set down the picture she had of her and Azkadellia playing in that field as children.

"Sing me a song from the Other Side, Deej," Azkadellia asked from where she lay on the bed, trying to sleep with very little success.

DG turned to look back at her sister as she added, "Please? You used to sing all sorts of silly songs when we were growing up."

DG leaned against the wall next to the window, "What kind of song do you want?"

She seemed to contemplate it for a few moments before she said, "Sing me your favorite song."

Her mouth quirked up in a smile, "Happy, sad, romance, breakup? What kind of song? I have lots of favorites to choose from."

"A happy song," Azkadellia finally decided.

DG thought through all the happy songs that she knew and the most appropriate one that came to mind (thanks to the earlier conversation with Thia) was David Bowie's "Kooks." When she started singing she could see Azkadellia trying to maintain her composure.

"Will you stay in our lover's story?  
If you stay, you won't be sorry  
'Cause we believe in you  
Soon you'll grow, so take a chance  
With a couple of kooks  
Hung up on romancing ..."

Her voice was light and airy as she sang the well known song to her sister. She was so focused on the words and doing a good job for Az that she never noticed the door to the bedroom opening and Wyatt Cain enter quietly as she started the second verse.

"And if you ever have to go to school  
Remember how they messed up this old fool ..."

DG started dancing a few steps that she had choreographed for a dance project in high school. As she dropped into a kneeling position beside the bed as she sung the last word, Az started to laugh.

Cain smiled slightly at the sight of his princess dancing and singing for her sister. Unsure of what response to give, he did the first thing that came to mind and started to clap.

The younger princess's head shot up and she gasped. She stood, her cheeks taking on a lovely crimson hue, "Cain! How long were you standing there?"

He ignored her question, "I didn't know you could sing, Princess."

She shrugged, one hand tugging on her sleeve self consciously, "I normally don't, but Az wanted a song."

He nodded, stepping closer, "It was ... interesting."

DG smirked at that, "It was Bowie."

He tilted his head to one side slightly, "The man who played your uncle in that movie on the Other Side?"

She nodded, "Yup. He did a few songs in the movie, too, but I'd rather not sing them."

Az watched them banter in amused silence until she felt a sudden wave of fatigue hit her. She stifled a yawn, but that didn't stop DG and Cain from still hearing it.

DG smiled a little sadly at her sister, moving to pat her hand, "Try to rest, Az. There'll be plenty to do later, but Thia was right. You hardly slept at all these past two nights."

There was a flash of panic in Azkadellia's brown eyes at the thought of DG leaving her alone. "Don't go too far, little sister."

DG's smile was genuine and warm as she bent over her sister and kissed her forehead, "Never. Now try to sleep. The Tin Man will keep me out of trouble."

---

Thia lay on the unfamiliar bed, wrapped tightly in the quilt her mother-in-law had made for her and Wyatt. Try as she might to sleep off some of the fatigue that was toying with her, however, she could not. The smell of her husband was soothing, but the lack of other familiar smells caused tears to prick at her eyes.

She sniffed as she hugged the blanket tighter to herself. She hated not knowing what to do; she hated not being near her husband; she hated this reality for taking her away from him. She just wanted to go home. At first, after she had talked to the Metatron, she had been fairly confident that she could do what was required of her. But now she wasn't so sure.

Even though she'd only been in this reality for a few hours at most, it felt like much longer and all she wanted to do was go home and feel her husband's arms around her soothing away her fright. Just because she was a Crown Princess did not mean that she had to function very well without him. And it didn't help matters at all that she was a pregnant, hormonal mess.

Ding, Bing, and Ring stood by the door, far enough away so that their mistress could not hear their quiet whispers but still close enough that they could be at her side in an instant if she needed them.

"Prince Man told us to keep her safe," Ding whispered to his brothers.

"But Princess Lady doesn't want him to have it yet," Bing scowled at Ding, his hands clutching the letter Prince Wyatt Cain had written to his counterpart.

Ring answered the questions they were all asking in their minds: Which one is worse to have mad at you? "Princess Lady will forgive us faster. Prince Man scary when he's mad at us."

Bing thought about this for a spell before he nodded hesitantly, "Tin Man needs letter. Prince Man said so. He can't help Princess Lady if he doesn't know what Prince Man wrote. We can worry about Princess Lady later."

Ding grinned a toothy, slightly demented grin and patted Bing on the back perhaps a little too hardly. "I'll give the letter to Tin Man. You two watch Princess Lady."

"Why should you give it to him?" Bing asked, yanking the letter back from his brother's thieving hands.

"Because I can run faster."

---

Nesa looked out the window at the hedge maze that kept Finaqua safe from prying eyes and wandering souls who were not meant to be within it's magickal bubble.

"I don't like this, Nes," Ahamo told his wife as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Do you think that I like having her here either, my love?" Nesa asked her husband as she leaned back into his embrace. She had missed him so much over the past thirteen annuals that they had been separated.

"She knows so much," Ahamo whispered, "But she's telling us so little about her life. We have no idea what kind of world she's come from. Hell, Nes, we don't even know who the father of her baby is!"

"That isn't something I can order her to tell us, my love," Nesa replied, her hands gently squeezing her husbands where they rested on her abdomen.

"I know," he sighed. "I'll just feel better once she's home and things can get back to normal."

Nesa chuckled at that, "I don't think I even remember what normal is supposed to be anymore."

"We'll figure it out. Together."

* * *

A/N: I'm so sorry if that letter sounded horrible. I had such a hard time writing it. I must have written the damn thing three times before deciding that the Jeb Thia helped to raise would have gone to penmanship lessons and knew how to word things prettily. That's the only explaination I can give.

I hoped you liked it. I decided it's almost time for the Tin Man to start putting his fear into the body-goblin-guards (as Cat Yuy calls them).

Please review and let me know what you liked, didn't like, if you think Mitzi (the plot bunny) was fed some questionable mushrooms after the last chapter ...


	7. Chapter 7

Ding stuck to the shadows in the corridors as he tracked the scent of the man who was and was not the Prince Man he respected so much. He could smell the other Princess Lady with him and he could almost hear the Prince Man tell him not to interrupt what was happening.

Watching and listening like he was trained to, Ding couldn't help but notice that how these two people interacted was very much like how the Prince Man and Princess Lady had interacted before the King Man had gotten married.

She had her hands behind her back as they walked, as if she was trying to resist the urge to hang onto his arm. The Princess Lady hadn't had to hold back that much when she first started spending time with his Prince Man ... well, he was the Colonel Man then.

"I'm not sure what to think about her being here," DG told Cain as they walked down the corridor, unaware of the two huge eyes watching them from the shadows. "Her childhood didn't exactly look peachy-keen to me, but ... she must have done _something_ right if her baby is any indication."

"She's hiding something," Wyatt replied with a hard face. Ding scowled from the shadows: Princess only hide things so has not to hurt them!

DG rolled her eyes as she thought about all the television shows she'd never be able to watch again. "Everybody lies, Cain," she said with a slight smile. She'd probably miss her episodes of _House_ the most.

He grunted, "And it's _my_ job to find out what the truth is."

The Princess stopped walking and turned to him, her eyes wide with questions she wasn't sure how to ask but she desperately needed answers to. "Is that what being a Tin Man is? Just finding the truth?"

Ding sunk further into the shadows, not wanting to attract any attention to himself.

Cain growled low in his throat as he turned to face the princess. He let down part of the mask that hid his emotions, letting her see a little of his vulnerability for a minute as he shook his head, "No. Not just finding the truth. Keeping troublemaking princesses safe is also part of my job."

She frowned at the answer even as she nodded and turned to continue to walk down the corridor. Cain watched her walk for a few moments, wondering what the hell he'd said wrong.

That's when Ding made his move. He sprang out of the shadows and tugged on the Tin Man's pant leg.

Cain looked down and glared at the goblin. "It's Ding, isn't it? Care to tell me why you've been followin' us for the past ten minutes?"

Ding's wide eyes narrowed slightly, "Ding follows you for_ twelve_ minutes, Tin Man." He reached into his shirt despite the growl of anger that welled in the Tin Man's chest. Ding pulled out the letter from his Prince Man and held it up to the other with an arm that shook slightly. He _definitely_ did not want to be bogged, thanks all the same.

"What's this?" Cain asked as he took the letter from the frightened goblin.

He took a step away from the human as he cleared his throat, "Letter from Prince Man. To you." He made shooing motions as he added, "Read later. Talk to Princess now. Make her happy. Tell her you staying."

Cain narrowed his eyes further as he tucked the letter into his vest. "How do you know what would make her --"

"Cain?" DG asked as she doubled back after finding he wasn't right behind her anymore. "Who are you talking to?" she asked, looking around to find them alone.

He frowned and shook his head, sending her a slight smile as he said, "No one, kid. I'm just gettin' senile in my old age."

She pouted at his response, "You're not senile and you're definitely _not_ old."

He gave her a real, albeit small, smile at her defense of him. Motioning down the corridor he said, "Let's get back to that walk, kid."

"I am _not_ a kid," she said with a smile.

"Really? You're as stubborn as any goat I've ever met, _kid_," he shot back as they started to walk again.

"You insufferable old man!" she groused, her eyes dancing with amusement. So _that's_ what he meant by kid? Better than him thinking she's a child.

"I thought you said I wasn't old?"

Ding watched them bicker as they walked away. _Better_, he thought. _Much better._

* * *

When everyone gathered precisely four hours later to start working on the issue of rebuilding the O.Z., Raw frowned at how _not_ rested Thia looked.

"Thia sleep at all?" he asked softly when she chose to sit near the soothing Viewer.

She glanced at his face, assessing his words before replying with a slight nod, "More than I expected to, actually, Master Raw."

"Raw no Master," he replied with a blush.

Thia smiled at him, one of her hands covering his where it lay on the table. "Soon, you will be."

Raw was saved having to respond to her prediction by the arrival of Glitch.

"It kinda boggles the noggin to think that there are other realities out there, doesn't it?" he asked as he sat down next to Raw.

Thia smiled at his open curiosity. "On the Other Side there are scientists that theorize a new reality is born representing every choice we make. There's one for each option."

"That means, _Ca-in_, that there's a reality out there where you became a dancer instead of a Tin Man," DG joked as they took their spots at the table.

Cain cleared his throat and pulled his fedora further onto his head to hide his blush. "I never wanted to be a dancer, kid," he replied gruffly.

Thia had to bite back the reply that was forming in her mind as she remembered a very specific conversation she'd once had with Gwen about her younger brothers.

DG noticed her counterpart's reaction and decided to jump on it with a grin, "So, Thia, how many embarrassing stories do you know about Cain's childhood?"

She glanced over at the already embarrassed Tin Man and took a little pity on him, no matter how much fun it would be to gossip about him with DG. "One or two, but I'm not at liberty to divulge that information," she said with a smirk to her counterpart. "But I can tell you anything you want to know about the Cain from my reality and his introduction to Other Side pop culture."

The other princess contemplated this for a moment before she opened her mouth to respond, Az cut her off, "As much as I'd love to hear something lighthearted, we do have some rather serious matters to discuss."

"The Witch did a number on the fields throughout the O.Z. and we're already in harvest season, so planting is out unless it's winter crops," Jeb said, his eyes heavy as he did his best to avoid Thia's piercing gaze.

"That is one of the easier things to fix, Jeb," Thia replied. Everyone looked at her.

"Using that kind of spell would deplete the life force of a Light Witch," Nesa said, knowing immediately what she planned to do. "It's out of the question."

Thia shook her head, one hand resting on her stomach as she countered, "Spells of that magnitude were designed for two Witches to complete. All we need to do is teach DG how to access the rest of her magick and tell her and Azkadellia the incantation. The farmers should have their crops to harvest by week's end."

"Woah. Wait. The _rest_ of my magick?" DG asked, holding up a hand in confusion.

Her counterpart waited for Nesa to explain, but the queen kept her seat beside her husband with a face of stone, not wanting to broach the subject. She then looked to Azkadellia, but she understood the matter about as much as DG did.

With a growl that reminded a few people of a certain Tin Man, Thia began to explain: "There is duality in everything in life, DG. Life and death, yin and yang, male and female, light and dark." DG's eyes widened as she took in what she was being told but Thia didn't let her get too far into her misconceptions, "Dark _does not_ mean evil. I am no more evil than that gazebo outside. It just utilizes a different part of the ... light spectrum, if you will."

"What exactly are you suggesting we do?" DG asked, "Send a jackhammer pulse through the entire O.Z. to bring everything back to life?"

Thia grinned without humor, "Precisely." She looked at everyone at the table in turn before her eyes came to rest on the Queen, "It will be exhausting, but if the Ozarians know it's coming, then they should already be prepared to start harvesting as soon as the crops are full grown at week's end."

"Why would it take so long?" her counterpart asked. "We could send out the pulse tomorrow, couldn't we? Why would they have to wait?"

It was Glitch who answered, "It's safer for you and Azka-D to put a sort of rapid growth spell on the plants instead of popping them out fully grown. Requires less magick, too. At least, I think it does."

DG turned her confused look to Thia, who nodded that Glitch was right. "Even with only half a brain you still have all the answers, Glitch," Thia said with a smile. "You never cease to amaze me. In either reality."

Everyone's attention was focused on a blushing Glitch who didn't know what to say when they heard a thud from the other end of the table. Eyes quickly turned to see that Azkadellia had fallen out of her chair and fainted quite ungracefully on the floor.

"Az?" DG shouted, her eyes wide with worry as Ahamo checked her pulse.

"Her breathing's steady," Ahamo said with a frown.

"Let's get her to a sofa," Cain suggested, bending down to pick up the surprisingly light weight princess.

Thia could only stand next to Raw and watch as Azkadellia was lifted onto a sofa on the other side of the room. She turned a questioning face to Raw, who nodded affirmative._ Her_ sister had fainted several times in the first trimester of her pregnancy, too.

* * *

Azkadellia woke to the sound of voices to her right. She moaned as the light hit her suddenly sensitive eyes in a very rude manner. What happened?

"Princess healthy," she heard Raw rumble comfortingly to her parents. "Just tired."

DG looked at her sister and saw her waking up. She ran to Azkadellia's side to help her sit up. "Hey, take it easy. Raw had to fix a nasty bruise on your head from that fall."

"What happened?" Az asked, confused as to why she was on the sofa.

"You fainted," DG replied, her eyes flickering to check her sister over for herself.

"Next time you start to feel light headed, you might want to head for the nearest sofa or chair, Az," Thia said blandly. "It'll feel a whole lot better that way."

"What will?" Az asked, still confused as to why she passed out.

Thia tilted her head to one side as she replied, "Your stomach."

Az nodded, "Oh." Her eyes widened a split second later as she repeated in a very shocked voice, "Oh."

"And you might want to stay away from red meat and cabbage," Thia put in with a slight frown. Yes, those were the only two things that her sister had had any problems with during her first pregnancy.

"Really?" DG asked, having made the same connection Azkadellia just had. "Red meat?"

Thia nodded, "She said it tasted like pickles."

"What's wrong with pickles?" DG asked with a slight frown.

Az shuddered at the very mention of the detestable food. "I _loath_ pickles," she said adamantly.

DG smiled at the look of utter disgust on her sister's face and felt a twinge of something in her heart that she didn't already know that about her. She averted her eyes only to find Cain's boring into her with sympathy and something akin to worry. He was worried about her? That knowledge caused a different sort of twinge to ripple through her heart.

"This ... changes things," the queen said, her voice calm and cool as ever.

DG wondered if her mother ever raised her voice.

"Not really," Thia replied as she assessed the situation in her head. "Azkadellia can still learn to defend herself and help with the restoration spell. It'll just take a little longer, that's all."

"Will the crops still be ready for harvest before it's too late?" Jeb asked, his mind on the hundreds that would starve over the long, hard winter ahead of them if that wasn't the case.

Thia nodded, determination set in her brow, "I'll make sure of it."

* * *

A/N: Three reasons I'm giving this to you so quickly:

1) The last chapter was a tad short and this chapter is a tad short.

2) I love you all and your wonderful reviews. Mitzi loves her carrots and daisies that you've been feeding her.

3) I'm suffering from temporary insomnia and can't sleep.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: A treat for you because the insomnia has yet to release me from its annoyingly strong grasp. And I refuse to suffer from sleeplessness alone. So I make my characters suffer, too.

* * *

Sleep eluded many of the people at Finaqua that night. Most of the Resistance found it nerve wracking that they now had two versions of Princess DG on their hands, but they kept their wits about them. At least she had already been cleared by the Viewer Raw and they knew she was only there to help. It helped matters a little that it was quite easy to tell the two women apart.

Thia had retired to her bed as soon as the next course of action was set. It was all too easy for everyone to see how exhausted she was as the goblins escorted her to her room and set up their rotating guard in the shadows to keep her safe.

Azkadellia was sitting in an overstuffed chair she had magickally replaced near her balcony doors when DG found her. The older princess was watching the moons travel across the sky as the stars came out to wink at the humans below them.

DG, dressed in a nightshirt that came to mid-calf on her legs, approached her sister quietly. She could see tears glistening in her eyes and wet trails illuminated in the moonlight.

"Az?" DG asked as she put a hand on her sister's shoulder gently.

"Before ..." she started to speak slowly, never taking her eyes off the night sky, "He was assigned as part of the Mystic Man's protection detail. I'm not sure if you remember him at all, the way he was before." She took in a deep breath, girding her strength about herself as she continued, "I used to sneak outside in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep. My guards ... I always drove them to worry the way you drive your Tin Man to worry.

"One night, while the Mystic Man was visiting, I couldn't sleep so I headed out to the dock. But I wasn't the first one there." Azkadellia smiled softly at the memory of her first "real" meeting with the man who had stolen her heart all those annuals ago.

DG listened intently as her sister shared this private moment with her. She could feel tear come to her eyes as she heard a love story as tragic as any Shakespeare could have written.

"He asked me why I was up so late and when I told him I couldn't sleep he just nodded without saying anything. He always knew the value of silence. I asked if he would mind if I sat with him for a while and he seemed a bit surprised, but moved over so I could sit on the deck beside him."

Azkadellia shook her head at the memory, "We watched a falling star that night. Neither one of us said much but when I saw him again the next night I felt like I'd known him for annuals."

"What happened?" DG asked, kneeling down beside her chair.

"He asked to be reassigned to palace duty. And then the Witch happened," her voice held some measure of bitterness to it which DG shrank from even though she knew it wasn't directed at her. Her head shook again, this time with pent up fury she'd been unable to express for far too long. "But it was too late. He was already so in love with me ... he would have done whatever I had asked," her voice trailed off into a whisper as she added, "And he did. Every bloody thing she made me ask him to do."

Tears fell freely from her eyes as she finally turned to look at her sister, "He wasn't always a monster, Deej. I wish I could make them understand that."

A pit formed in DG's stomach as she realized what her sister was trying to tell her. The very information she had told their mother not five hours before that she didn't remember.

"Are you saying that Zero is the father of your baby?" she had to make sure. It could be anyone else. It _had_ to be anyone else.

Azkadellia nodded as more tears fell down her already glistening cheeks. "Promise me you won't tell them, DG. No one can know. If Mother knew she'd make me ..." she shook her head, a determined glint appearing in her eyes. "I won't lose my baby, Deej. I _can't_."

DG nodded, unsure what to say. "I promise," she finally managed to get out. She leaned up and kissed Azkadellia's forehead. "Try to get some sleep. The baby needs it just as much as you do."

Az squeezed her sister's hand before releasing it, "Goodnight, little sister."

"Goodnight, Az," DG whispered as she made her way back across the hall to her rooms.

* * *

While he sat in her sitting room, waiting for DG to come back from her sister's room, Cain took out the note that Ding had given him earlier that day.

"No time like the present," he mumbled to himself as he flipped it open.

_Wyatt- _it read. Cain raised his eyebrows at the neat print that was easy to read. It wasn't nearly as scrunched or tight as his own writing but he could immediately tell it was done in his hand. So he was the "Prince-man" the goblins seemed so terrified of upsetting? Interesting.

"_Make sure Thia doesn't sneak any caffeine while she's there. She's already at elevated risk for a miscarriage and I don't want anything else risking the health of the baby. Make sure she steers clear of any and all chocolate cake._

"_There's so much I want to tell you, but Thia would have a cow if I did. Literally, knowing how bad she is at controlling her magick when she's so hormonal and upset._

"_Don't take out your aggression on her. I know this is probably a bit of a shock, but I love her and I've loved her for a very long time. From what she's told me about your world, your DG loves you just as much as Thia loves me."_

Cain scowled at the paper, not sure he wanted to read the rest but knowing he had to. There was something very disturbing about getting love advice from an alternate version of yourself. Almost as odd as the conversation he'd had with Jeb before midday about moving on with his life. He had his suspicions about what was in his own letter.

"_Before you decide to throw this in the fire and have done with it, just take this one bit of advice: Talk to her before you decide that she's too good for you. I know that she loves you and that you love her._

"_You can die for any cause you see fit -- and I know you'd die for her. But she needs to know that you'll live for her, too. She needs you, just as much as you need her._

"_-General Wyatt Cain, HRH"_

Cain wasn't sure what to make of the letter, or the advice. Mechanically, he folded it back up and put it back into his pocket as he thought about the pros and cons of doing what this man suggested.

It was about fifteen minutes later that he heard footsteps in the hall outside that he identified as DG's. She was the only one with such light steps -- even Thia had a slightly heavier step because of the baby. He glanced toward the door to see if she needed him when she walked in.

The door clicked shut behind her as she leaned heavily upon it. Her knees were weak from the knowledge Azkadellia had just given to her.

"You okay, kid?" Cain asked from where he sat next to the blazing fire in her sitting room. At first she had been grateful and slightly annoyed that he always seemed to find her and he never left her alone for any great length of time.

Right now, though, she was just annoyed.

"I'm fine, Mr. Cain," DG said as she pushed off from the door and made her way on slightly unsteady feet to her bedroom.

"What's with this Mr. Cain business?" he asked as he got up and moved to stop her. "What's wrong?"

DG turned and glared at him, yanking her arm to get free from his iron grasp. "Let go," she cried, knowing she shouldn't take her anger out on him but not really caring at the moment.

All it took was that moment and the look of fiery rage in her eyes and Cain knew he was lost. He pulled her into his hard body and held her close despite her thrashing and struggling as she tried to get free. "No," he rumbled as one of his hands went to stroke her hair.

"You don't have to talk 'bout it, but I'm _not_ lettin' you go." As if his words were some sort of trigger, DG stopped struggling within his arms, however she also started to cry fierce, brutal tears that tore through both of their bodies.

He held her, muttering cooing, soothing sounds into her hair as she cried for the first time since the cave.

When she finally quieted down, Cain relaxed his hold on her, but she didn't move from his arms, her face pressed into his vest.

"Now," he said, walking her to go sit on the sofa. He pulled her firmly into his lap as he settled himself at the corner of the small, overstuffed sofa. There was something severely wrong about how despondent she was still acting. Once he was comfortable, DG settled herself with her legs to one side of Cain's, and her head resting on his shoulder, as if she was a child. "Wanna talk about it?" he asked gently.

She shook her head, "I promised Az that I wouldn't say anything."

He nodded, not liking the idea of secrets, but not pressing the issue either. "Okay, then."

The two sat in silence, gathering strength from the other as they shared this quiet moment. DG broke the silence by saying, "I'm sorry I got your vest all wet."

He smirked at the humor of her worrying about such a small thing like that, "S'okay. It'll dry."

A few more minutes of comfortable silence passed before she finally let one of her biggest fears be known, "When are you going away?"

Cain tightened his arms around her reflexively at the timid, resigned sound of her voice, "Who said I was going away?"

She leaned up off his shoulder and looked at him with wide, confused eyes, "No one, but I thought ... you had a life before this."

He nodded, one of his hands moving to her jaw to make sure she was looking at him. Unconsciously she leaned into his hand as it stroked her face. "Yeah, I did," he said quietly, "And it's gone now. I can't go back to it anymore than you can go back to Kansas and pretend you never came here."

New tears glistened in her eyes as she processed his words. "You're staying?" she asked, a tremor in her voice that she couldn't suppress.

A part of Cain wanted to kill whoever made his princess this sure that everyone was going to leave her alone. He didn't let that part show as he gave her a soft smile. "If you'll let me. I'd kinda like to see where this thing goes."

She leaned forward and placed a chaste kiss on his lips before pulling back again and snuggling into his side, "So would I."

* * *

This woke up from her dream with a start. She had been standing in the middle of the peach orchard walking toward Wyatt and Jeb, but the more she reached out to them the further away they became. The more she ran, the longer she had to go, until at last they disappeared from sight.

A quick glance out her window revealed that the suns wouldn't rise for another three hours, but she got up anyway, knowing she wouldn't be getting much sleep after that dream.

She sat up in bed and looked down at the outfit she had been wearing for over a day. As much as she loved smelling like her husband, she knew it was time to change.

Closing her eyes, she formed a picture of an outfit Wyatt loved on her, the navy blue, tea length baby doll that her seamstress had made for some dinner she and Wyatt had to attend about a month before. With a few alterations for her enlarged stomach, and black ballet flats made out of the same goblin leather her beloved boots were made out of, and she opened her eyes with a smile. The dress, shoes, and appropriate undergarments appeared beside her on the bed.

She picked them up and made her way to the bath she knew was attached to the room. Half an hour later, when she emerged from the bath, dressed in her "new" clothes and her hair hanging down her back in wet, loose tresses. Thia brushed it as she walked over to her bedside table and picked up the two chains that lay there: one carried her engagement and wedding ring, the other carried the pendant Azkadellia had given her on her fifteenth birthday. She hadn't wanted to get either of them wet in the shower.

As she padded out of her room in her soft shoes, the goblins fell in step behind her, never leaving her alone and keeping a watchful eye on every single shadow that they passed. Nothing would sneak up on their princess while she was in their care.

It was a quiet night, with so few people at Finaqua, and none of them servants. Thia noiselessly passed through the halls until she found the kitchen. She surveyed the kitchen, finding that when the restoration spell had taken hold, everything had been restored to how it should be except for the food stores.

With a slight grin to her three shadows she asked, "How do omelets sound, lads?"

"That'd be a mighty useful trick if you can manage it without any eggs," a female voice said from the other side of the kitchen. In another life Thia knew the voice as airy and carefree, but in this life it was hardened by years of war and terror.

Thia sent her a slight grin before tilting her head to one side and asking, "What do you mean no eggs?"

The young Resistance woman looked again at the counter next to the pregnant princess and whistled: the counter was covered with every possible food item that Thia might need to make any type of omelet requested. "That's a mighty nice trick. You must be Thia."

She nodded in affirmation as she started cracking her magickally formed eggs into a mixing bowl, throwing the shells into the trashcan nearest her. "And you must be Lya."

The red head narrowed her green eyes, "How do you know my name?"

"What did Jeb tell you about me?" Thia ignored her original question as she started mixing the eggs. Ring started the stove top so that it would be nice and hot by the time his princess needed it before he hopped back off the counter to sit with his brothers.

"How do you know it was Jeb?" Lya asked as she stepped further into the kitchen, eyeing the goblins warily, as if they were the papay she had come to fear.

Thia snorted at that as she set Bing to grating cheese after he washed his hands. "Other than the fact that he's the one that's been talking to the Resistance fighters and keeping them abreast to what's going on?" Her blue eyes flickered up to the other woman, "In my reality you and Jeb have been ... keeping company for some time now."

Lya's pink lips quirked up in a small smile, "Keeping company?"

She smirked right back, as she poured some of the egg mixture onto the sizzling pan and Ring handed her the things that he and his brothers wanted on the massive omelet they were going to share. "It's not technically courting for another two annuals, but there's a very strong and well-known understanding between the two of them."

Thia flipped over the omelet expertly as Lya finally came close enough to sit next to the goblin trio. "Who taught you how to do that?" she asked curiously.

"_You_ did, actually," the princess replied, her eyes twinkling at the memory. "Or ... the other you. She was thirteen and it was ... my first anniversary." Tears flooded her eyes as she thought about going to the cook's daughter and asking for her help. With a watery smile Thia added, "I ruined eight omelets before I got it right."

Lya knew all too well what it was like to be thrust into a situation you didn't understand, with hardly anyone that you knew. "It must be very hard for you to be here," she whispered empathetically. "I'm sorry."

Thia smiled back at the younger girl, pushing away her tears, "I'll be all right. I've got these three -- even if they don't always listen to me." She moved the goblins' omelet from the skillet to a plate, sending it over to the table with a small burst of magick. With a smile through her watery eyes, Thia asked, "Now what would you like on your omelet?"

The pair continued to banter lightly about things that didn't really have any consequence while Thia made the last two omelets and the five of them sat down to eat.

Lya watched in something akin to fascination as the goblins each pulled out very shiny, sharp forks from their boots before digging into the omelet.

"Why are they carrying forks in their boots?" she asked their mistress with a slight frown on her weather beaten face.

The other woman's lips twitched as she answered, "They don't care for daggers."

* * *

Lya took her leave of the odd princess an hour before the first sun was to rise.

The goblins cleaned up the breakfast dishes while Thia rested at the table where they had eaten. She scowled as she looked at Ding washing her tea cup. It wasn't that it was a bad brew -- on the contrary, it was quite good ... it just wasn't the same as having a real cup of coffee.

Once the dishes were done and the kitchen back in order Thia did a magick trick and filled the ice box like magickal device with foodstuffs that would stay fresh however long it took for them to be consumed.

That done, she turned toward the corridor that would take her down to the heart of the dungeons.

"Come on, lads," she said jovially, "Let's go see what kind of man we're dealing with in this version of Adrian Zero."

* * *

A/N: Who's the man ... er, girl ... er, woman? That's it: Who's the woman? ... Nah: Who's the man!?

Oh, and as there was a bit of confusion: Mitzi is my plot bunny. She has grown quite fat and lazy thanks to all your treats.

Betcha want the next chatper, don't ya? Feed Mitzi something like carrots and lettuce and I'll think about it.


	9. Chapter 9

There were only a few human guards in the part of the dungeon where the prisoners were kept. The queen had wisely decided that it would be more effective and less risky to guard the prisoners with magick rather than men. This was fortuitous for Thia's mission to see what sort of mess she was in with this version of one of her dearest friends. She could feel a flicker of dark magick through the light wards that guarded him, but she was unsure what it meant. Perhaps another taint.

"Your highness," one of the two guards on this level greeted her as both of them rose to stand at attention. There was only one prisoner on this level, and they all knew it.

"Gentlemen," she said with a nod, her voice cool and detached. She motioned her head toward the door, "I would like to have a few words with ... the prisoner."

Both guards shifted uncomfortably on their feet as they processed her request. "We're not supposed to let anyone in, your highness," the one on the left said.

Thia turned her attention to him, "Would you prefer if I render both of you unconscious and then went in to see him anyway? Gentlemen, there is enough magick guarding him that even _if _I tried to harm him or remove him from that room I'd not only be unsuccessful, but I'd also be so drained I'd have to sleep for a week to recover." The guards eyed her carefully, trying to figure out if she was lying or not. Their years in the Resistance proved helpful as they noted the truth in her posture as she added, "Please, I just want to talk to him."

The one on the left nodded, "Ten minutes."

She smiled her thanks, "Ten minutes," she repeated so that they both knew she understood.

The one on the right unlocked the door and held it open to reveal a very dark room lit sparingly by dim lamps. Thia waved a hand and the lights blared to the intensity of the sunrise that was about to take place outside, the extra light revealing a circular cage in the middle of the room with a sole occupant inside.

As soon as the door opened and that magickal barrier was lifted, Thia could feel the dark, misused magick pouring off the prisoner in waves as he tried to break free.

She hissed as her own power built in reply, ready to destroy the Witch's contingency plan once and for all.

"You're not who I was expecting," he hissed at her as she stalked closer, throwing the door shut with a bang behind her.

"Neither are you, _Witch_," Thia replied, her magick causing her pale blue eyes to lighten to a white gray that terrified most who saw it. While she was speaking, she did quick work of putting up a shield, making sure it was a strong as possible over her stomach. Wyatt would be pissed when he found out about this.

"No one was expecting me to choose a _man_ this time, Gale Bitch. You're fatter than I expected." He cackled at her as the spirit who possessed him built up a fire ball of power that would have killed most less powerful witches. He sent the fire ball loose and watched in seething rage as it was absorbed by Thia's shield of translucent dark blue light.

Thia shook her head as she tsked at him, "You chose the wrong man, Witch. And the wrong _Gale_ to fuck with." Her own power built to frightening levels as she laced in a de-possessing spell into the shockwave she sent at the military commander.

The shockwave was let free and caused the whole foundation of Finaqua to rumble as the Witch inside of Adrian Zero screamed a terrifying scream as she was pulled from his body, but not before she sent another fire ball at Thia's stomach.

The two guards rushed in, others from the surface clamoring down the stairs to see what had happened. Finaqua wasn't anywhere near a fault line or mountains -- it _shouldn't_ quake.

What they found inside the room was two people unconscious, two goblins tending to their mistress, one had squeezed through the bars of the prisoner's cage and was poking Zero with his fork. Next to the unconscious prisoner was a pile of what could only be described as green goo.

---

"I don't care _what_ she told you, you were ordered never to open that door without my direct say so!"

The voice was coming from the hallway, but Thia could hear it quite clearly. She moaned as her head reacted to the sound as if someone was operating a jack hammer right next to her ear.

When she tried to sit up on what felt like one of the well-kept beds of Finaqua's many guest rooms, she was pushed back down gently by two pairs of arms.

"Rest now. Body drained," she heard Raw order her softly. His gift filled her mind and relieved some of the pressure in her head.

"Stop shouting, Mr. Cain," Thia said as she opened her eyes, sending a light smile of thanks to Raw and Glitch who were beside her bed.

To the surprise of the two guards he was still berating, Cain did just that as he stomped loudly into the room where they had moved Thia after her collapse. "What the hell were you thinking?" he said in a tone of voice she knew very well from her years being married to his double. It was too calm to be a good thing. Oh yeah, he was pissed.

With a wince she pushed herself into a half seated position against the pillows and sent him an annoyed look, "I was _thinking_ that it might be nice to see Adrian Zero for a few minutes." Her voice was testy and there was no mistaking the rage held tightly in check. "I was _thinking_ that it might be a good idea to remove the taint the Witch put in him before it was too late." She paused for effect, "I was _thinking_ that it would be a good idea to kill what was left of the Witch before she recuperated enough to break free of that damn cell you had her locked in."

During her brief tirade, DG, Azkadellia, and Jeb had walked in to see if she really was all right.

Az gasped at the thought of the Witch not being completely dead.

DG grasped her sister's hand, letting her know she wasn't alone. Her wide eyes met Thia's glaring ones, "But she's dead now, right?"

"That doesn't matter," Cain snapped, his eyes of glacial blue tearing into the bedridden woman. "Do you know what your husband would do to me if he found out about your little stunt?" His voice was as icy as his eyes, "You could have lost the baby."

Thia fought back tears as she tried to maintain her "court face" as Wyatt called it. "No," she whispered, "I was careful."

"Yeah, so careful that you made Finaqua shake with that little display downstairs," he shot back, his anger and knowledge not allowing him to back down, or calm down.

A tear rolled down Thia's cheek but she didn't bother with it as she responded with fury lacing her even tone, "Just because my husband isn't here, doesn't give you the right to speak to me like this, _Mr. Cain."_

His eyes narrowed to slits as he pulled out the letter her husband had written to him, "On the contrary, _Princess_, it does. He gave me that right when he told me to watch out for you." Flickering his eyes to the three goblins who sat at the end of the bed he added, "She does not leave that bed for any reason, got it?"

"Got it, Boss Man," Ding answered for his brothers, all of them hanging their heads in shame that they had let their Princess get hurt.

With a tight nod Cain spun on his heel and left the room in a huff.

Thia wanted to throw something, but she knew it would do no good to throw a temper tantrum, it would just give him reason to do something more rash and unbearable. Not to mention she barely had the strength to speak at the moment -- she wasn't sure she had the strength to throw a black chicken feather at the moment.

Raw squeezed her shoulder as he whispered in her ear, "Overwhelmed. In shock over letter. Will calm down soon. Wants you and baby safe. Does not want your husband to feel pain he has felt. Does not want to fail again."

She gave him a watery smile, "Thanks Raw." A white linen handkerchief was thrust in front of her nose as more tears started escaping her control. "Thank you, Glitch."

DG cleared her throat, causing the two men to look up at her as Thia dried her eyes. "If you don't mind, guys," she motioned with her head toward the hallway, "We need to talk."

Raw patted Thia's shoulder, sending her an odd look as he hastily dragged the half-brained advisor into the hallway and away from the hormonal females.

The princess on the bed motioned for the sisters to sit down, "What is it?"

"Is the Witch dead?" Az demanded without delay.

"Yes, she's dead," Thia replied, her voice calm and her face in control of her raging emotions once more.

Az nodded once, firmly, "Good."

"What happened," DG asked, her eyes flickering over to her older sister before focusing again on her supine double on the bed.

Thia looked down at her hands in her lap as she told them what had been going through her mind. "Ever since I got here I've felt a trickle of dark magick coming from the dungeons. It wouldn't have bothered me in the Labyrinth ... but the magick that surrounds Finaqua is some of the brightest light in existence."

"So you went down to investigate?" DG prodded, curious as to why she'd put her child's life in danger.

Thia nodded, "I was fairly certain it was coming from Rian -- especially after Azkadellia's revelation yesterday. But it wasn't until the door to his cell was open that I realized it wasn't a taint." Her eyes met DG's as she explained, "The Witch must have used a soul splitting spell to put a part of her soul in him after she was in Azkadellia's body."

"Soul splitting?" DG frowned. It sounded bad.

"She put a part of her soul in him in case anything happened to me," Az explained in a small voice. Tears filled her own eyes as she thought about what that meant, "I thought she had but ... poor Adrian."

"What?" DG was now even more confused than when the quaking had started and abruptly stopped two and a half hours before.

"If something had happened to Azkadellia the rest of the soul would end up in Zero," Thia explained, "And if anything happened to him, his part of the soul would revert to her."

Her quick mind thought about the implications. "Double her chances of staying alive," she muttered.

"Is he all right?" Thia asked them, hoping for some news on the man who was the twin of another she cared very deeply about.

DG nodded, "Took a nasty bump to the head when he fell, but Raw said he'll be fine."

After taking a deep breath Thia nodded, "Then I believe I should rest for a few hours before we have our first magick lesson."

"Will Cain still let you teach me after what happened?" DG asked dubiously.

Thia raised a perfectly plucked eyebrow, "He doesn't have a say in the matter, actually. Now, I'll see both of you in a few hours."

Azkadellia rose and squeezed Thia's hand lightly. "Thank you," she whispered before leaving a few steps ahead of her younger sister.

---

DG found Cain pounding into what looked like a punching bag down in what she could only guess was some kind of fitness center for the soldiers.

"Hey!" she called as she trotted close to him. "What was that all about?"

Cain grunted as he continued to lay into the punching bag, "Leave it be, kid."

She raised her chin defiantly, "No. Tell me what's got you so worked up, Cain. There's more to it than her going down there to see Zero."

He stopped punching the weighted bag and turned his cold blue eyes on his princess. It was all too much for him to handle, "How 'bout that she nearly got herself killed? Is that enough for me to be upset about?"

"She said she was careful," DG countered, her eyes challenging him. What was it he was so afraid of?

His eyes flashed with anger at the words and he shook his head, "It was too close. She couldn't have known she would survive. That the baby would survive. Her husband asked me to watch out for her." It was a cop out answer. He wasn't ready to tell her the full truth yet. It could have just as easily been her that had gone down to talk to Zero.

DG chose to back down as his words sunk in. He probably wouldn't say anything else anyway. With a nod she changed to a "safe" topic. "Have we heard anything from the guilds, yet?"

He nodded briskly as they started the long walk back to her family and what was sure to end up being war talk, "The Eastern Guild sent a messenger bird that arrived this mornin' durin' the commotion."

She scowled, "I'm not sure I'm ever going to like those munchkins."

He snorted at that, "They're a handful, that's for sure."

"What about the others?"

"Nothin' yet from the North, but it's going to be hardest for news to reach 'em through the mountains. The Western Guild representatives arrived this mornin' right before the ... shakin' started. And the Southern Guild has already sent a message sayin' that they no longer recognize your mother as Queen an' are declaring themselves a free nation."

"That's just peachy," DG grumbled. "Next thing you know, Bush is gonna enter stage left with a dog and pony. Then the show will really be going."

Cain stopped walking and gave her a confused look. "I have no idea what you just said," he commented bluntly.

DG shook her head, "It's nothing. This just feels like the kind of war that was going on when I left the Other Side." Her eyes became haunted as she thought about the war.

"Wanna tell me about it?" he offered as they continued walking through one of Finaqua's many entrances.

She sent him a small smile and shook her head, "Maybe later. I don't want to think about it right now."

"Can you just tell me one thing?" he asked.

"Sure."

"What do a bush, dog, and pony have to do with it?"

* * *

A/N: Umm ... Yeah ... with all the angst that last part was my totally lame attempt at humor. ... Or maybe it was Cain's ... Nope, can't fool you guys. No matter your view on the war in Iraq I think we can all agree that it was a fantastic dog and pony show.


	10. Chapter 10

Raw was meditating in his room when he felt the agony the older princess was in. With a frown the gentle healer rose and padded down the hall to see if he could help.

Without knocking, Raw entered Azkadellia's sitting room and crossed to her bedroom, finding that she had left it unlocked in her haste to get to the bed and collapse her barriers.

Coming up quietly behind her, Raw put his hand on her shoulder comfortingly. It had had been hard at first for him to accept that she was not the Witch, but his gift helped. Kalm's gift had helped, as well. Neither the young Viewer nor his uncle could feel the Witch inside of her anymore, didn't feel anymore darkness than what was natural for humans.

No words were spoken as Azkadellia sat up and moved to embrace the Viewer. She let his gift wash through her as she cried into his shoulder, letting out all of her hurt and anger that she'd been thrust into such a horrible situation. She'd already fallen in love with her baby ... but what could she do about the man who had stolen her heart first? He was lying in a hospital bed recovering from the aftereffects of the dispossession, just like Azkadellia had had to do a few days before.

The only difference was that after he was healed he'd go back to a cold, dark, empty cell to await punishment for his crimes.

"Princess, want to tell Raw what's wrong?" the gentle Viewer offered after she had calmed down enough to control her tears.

Azkadellia sat back on her feet as she sniffled. She shook her head, "Not really."

He rumbled again, knowing she needed to talk to someone who would understand, "Raw tell Princess what he feels?"

She looked up at that, meeting his deep, insightful brown eyes with her own. Her mind whirled over the pros and cons of letting him read her, but after only a few moments she nodded wordlessly giving him permission to do as he suggested.

Raw put one of his hands over her stomach, "Raw feels life. Baby girl loves mother. Loves father. Wants peace for both. Raw feels strongly."

Azkadellia looked down at her stomach in awe. Her child would be very powerful if Raw could feel such emotion coming from her at such a young age. She opened her mouth to speak, but she couldn't find the right words for a few minutes.

At long last she told him what had happened, "I ... told my mother and my father that the father is ... Adrian Zero. They didn't take it too well."

Raw rumbled again, patting her hand with his. "Parents frightened. Remember pain Zero caused. Suffering. Will pass in time."

"When?" Az asked, her eyes shooting up to Raw's in desperation. "When I have a daughter and he's been hung from the gallows? When?"

Raw hugged the despairing princess again, "Soon. Thia and DG make sure."

Even as she started to cry again, Azkadellia couldn't help but be comforted by his words and faith in her sister and the strange woman from the other reality.

* * *

When Thia opened her eyes and found Jeb sitting across from her, her mind flashed back to a few months earlier and she had the sudden sense of deja vu. Her Jeb had been watching her after a magickal drain as well, though the circumstances had been drastically different. She didn't want to think about that right now -- she didn't have the time, nor the luxury to think about it.

The pounding in her head had abated and she knew that her magick had completely rebounded after her little ... display downstairs. With a little groan she pushed herself up so she was sitting properly against the headboard. "Are you going to yell at me, too?" she asked as Jeb reached over to the nightstand for a pitcher of water and a cup.

He filled the cup halfway before handing it to her, not answering until she was busy taking a drink. His voice was slightly compassionate as he voiced his thoughts, "I think you're gonna get yelled at enough when your husband finds out what you did." He shrugged as she handed the cup back to him, her throat now feeling much better. "Besides, Zero's hasn't been this quiet since we let 'im out of the Suit. The guards wanna thank you for that."

She quirked an eyebrow at that, "He's all right?"

Jeb nodded curtly. "For now. But there's a lot of other things we need to take care of right now that don't involve captured Longcoats."

"Like raising an army," Thia said with a bitter smile. She shook her head, "If I never have to deal with another war ever again, I won't complain. They're full of too much blood and suffering."

"We don't have to talk about that right now," Jeb said, shaking his head.

"In fact, I forbid it," a female voice said from the doorway. Thia and Jeb looked up to find Lya standing there, holding a tray with all sorts of tasty looking morsels on it. "Medic's orders," she said with a small smile to her patient.

Thia grinned back at the younger woman as she came into the room fully and started setting up the tray so that she could eat. "Of course," she replied with a nod, "Your mother was a doctor from the Other Side."

Lya nodded slightly, her eyes downcast. "How are my parents in ... your reality?" she asked finally, settling in a chair beside Jeb.

The princess answered as she picked up an apple and twirled it on her fingertip. "Your mother died two annuals ago when we had an outbreak of meningitis in the Labyrinth thanks to one of the Wished Away." Thia paused, knowing she'd have to explain why they were in the Labyrinth in the first place. "Your father moved your family there when you were a little girl." She quirked a smile as she remembered that time, "I was ten annuals old and I had a bit of a ... _disagreement_ with the chef that your father replaced."

"What happened?" Jeb asked, his brow furrowed curiously.

Thia scowled, not sure she wanted to tell them, but knowing it would relieve some of the tension that was palpable between her and the younger Cain. She took a bite of the apple to stall having to answer, chewing it's wonderfully ripe flesh carefully before swallowing.

She looked down at it as she replied timidly, "I _might_ have replaced a basket full of some very expensive, rare mushrooms with ones that are renowned for their ... laxative like qualities."

The couple in front of her couldn't suppress their snorts of laughter at her proclamation.

"Please tell me it was worth it after you got in trouble," Jeb said, his eyes still dancing with laughter.

She nodded with a grin, "I believe we were dining with one of Jackson le Monté's advisors that night. He was trying to arrange a marriage betrothal, I believe."

"Who?" DG asked from the doorway where she stood with Cain, her head tilted to one side.

Thia's face lost all humor and the others in the room could see loathing in her eyes, "Nasty fellow. King of the land northeast of the O.Z." She frowned, "Or, at least he was in my reality." A bitter smile crossed her face, "Up until a few annuals ago, that is."

"What happened?" DG asked, moving to sit at the foot of the bed. She was very curious as to why this woman hated him so much.

Thia caught DG's eyes and replied, "He kidnapped Azkadellia and attempted to kidnap me when I was fifteen annuals." Her eyes flickered to her goblins and she smiled softly, "With the help of a few friends Azkadellia was able to escape." The hard edge to her mouth and eyes returned, "But the bloody bastard didn't leave well enough alone -- even after we captured half of his farmland."

"He tried again?" Cain asked, his hand reflexively moving to rest on his pistol, as if the man in question was lurking around the corner.

Thia nodded once in affirmative, her eyes moving to the man who was not her husband, "In the worst possible way. He sent the Wicked Witch's sister after us. At my uncle's wedding."

Cain cursed under his breath. Attacking at a celebration like a wedding or a birth was one of the least honorable things a commander could order. "You killed her?" he asked tensely.

Her smile returned as she shook her head, "No. Azkadellia, our mother, and I _distracted_ her."

"But she died, didn't she?" DG asked, now confused.

Thia grinned, "Yes, she's dead. Real and truly, this time. But it was a certain ex-Tin Man who did it, and not anyone with magick."

"Huh?" DG asked, looking from Cain back to the pregnant woman on the bed.

"Water."

Jeb couldn't help it, he just couldn't help but laugh at the look of shock on DG's face.

"She got _wet_?" the slipper princess questioned incredulously.

"Side effect of going to the dark side," Thia explained. "A very strong allergy to water."

"Oh."

* * *

Zero woke up with a clear mind for the first time in annuals. He took a ragged breath as he looked about himself, taking in the hospital-esk setting that was devoid of all other patients.

Images of horrible things filled his mind. Things that he knew his body had done. Lives taken and destroyed as if they were nothing more than dust.

"Sweet Lurline, have mercy on my soul," he whispered the same prayer all sinners prayed.

"You're awake," a male voice said from the doorway. He turned his head to look at the burly man dressed in simple clothes. The man smiled bitterly, "Good."

The man approached him and checked his vitals. "How are you feeling?" he asked.

Zero was surprised that he even cared. He must really take his work as a medic seriously. "I would like to see a priestess," he said slowly. "Please."

The medic kept on with his work as if he hadn't heard what the infirm man had said. It wasn't the voice that had haunted so many people, taunted so many Resistance Fighters. This wasn't the same stony man that had crippled them time and again.

"Why?" he asked at long last.

Zero looked up at him with the raw agony of a man who has found his soul again. "To confess."

* * *

The trek south had been brutal, and all of them were thrilled when they finally came up to the hedge maze that protected Finaqua. The one comfort they had had on the three day trek from the far north, was that it got warmer the farther they went.

Four days before, on the night before the Eclipse, she had Dreamt a great Dream and Lurline had told her to gather her forces and move to the south to Finaqua. The war with the Sorceress was about to come to an end and her forces would need to be with their Queen to help her take control of the people again. She had told her sister and constant companion about the Dream and together they planned and set the plan into motion quickly.

Three days before, they had left a quart of their force behind, knowing that they would take care of the rest of the people and make sure that none got too out of hand. There would be no more blood lost in their section of the O.Z. The north was still in very capable hands.

It was planned that once they arrived at Finaqua safely, they would send a message back north for the ... non-human forces to ride to Finaqua to pledge themselves to their Queen. So the humans had ridden hard, trying to arrive as quickly as possible to assess the situation and help as best they could.

The Resistance military leader looked up at the suns in the sky. The first sun was already in its descent, so they only had a few more hours left of light. She looked at the maze and tried to remember her training. After a moment she pointed to the east of the long hedge wall that separated them from the maze, "There's an entrance down that way."

The spiritual leader nodded to the west slightly, "There's also one right there."

Her sister looked at her briefly before guiding her horse toward the west, where sure enough there was an entrance to the legendary maze.

"All right," the military commander ordered with authority. She nodded to the priestess, "You go first. We'll go single file behind you until we get to the other side. I'll pull up the rear."

The priestess nodded before she guided her gelding to the opening and went through, closely followed by her friends and those who went to her for guidance in these troubling times. It was the first time she'd been in the maze, but she picked her way through easily with the help of the goddess she had devoted her life to. A scant ten minutes later she stepped into Finaqua and a number of soldiers pointed their weapons at her.

She moved to the side of the entrance so that her people could continue to flow out into the open, her eyes locked on one of the soldiers, "Tell your Commander and your Queen that the Northern Guild has arrived."

The soldier looked at her dubiously and she was pleased with this (the hood on her robe _was_ up and did cover her features -- only a fool would rush to obey her). "Who do I tell 'im is callin'?"

With a swift move she dropped her hood at the same moment her sister came out of the maze behind her. Her voice reaffirmed what her eyes and face already told the soldiers guarding the royal family: she was telling the truth: "Tell them that it is Jael and Amy Cain."

At their shocked looks, one of the soldiers ran off toward the back of the palace, while another went into the palace proper. Jael could only hope that her Dreams about her brother had not been misplaced, nor mistimed. It was the last thing she needed to get up hope about seeing Wyatt again only to have her heart ripped out again.

* * *

"Ready?" Thia asked DG. The pair were seated on the ground by the lake. Thia knew the peaceful location would be best for DG's magick as she learned to control it.

DG nodded, "As I'll ever be." She glanced to where Cain stood a few yards away, watching them from a safe distance. It had taken hours to convince him that Thia wasn't going to do anything other than teach DG how to control her magick, and even then, he'd insisted on coming with them.

Her counterpart took a deep breath and reached for DG's hand, "It'll be easier if I show you where to find your magick within yourself. That way you won't have to search around for hours like my tutor made me."

She nodded, placing her hand in Thia's and closing her eyes as the magick rushed through her.

_Can you hear me?_ she heard a voice ask in her head.

_Yes,_ she replied, knowing it was Thia. _How are you doing that?_

_Magick,_ she replied with humor that DG could feel. _Can you feel this?_ she asked as DG felt herself being prodded from the inside, somewhere near her neck.

_Yes. What is it?_

_Your light. And if we move this way we'll find your darkness._

DG was swept up in the emotions that rolled through her as she felt the magnitude of her own power wash over her. Yes, Thia had been right, she had only barely managed to tap into her own reservoir of magick.

"Wow," she said as Thia broke the connection.

Thia nodded, "Weird, isn't it?"

DG's eyes danced, "It was like riding a rollercoaster."

"Without getting sick from too much cotton candy afterwards," Thia replied with a smile. "You're a fast learner, DG. Let's move on to something a bit more complex than spinning that doll of yours around in the air, shall we?"

Her pupil nodded with wide, expectant eyes but was drastically disappointed when Thia placed a wooden spoon on the ground between them. "What's that?"

Thia's lips twitched up, "A spoon."

DG eyed her warily, "What am I supposed to do with it?"

"Change it," Thia replied as if it was as easy as carrying a plate full of pie to table six.

"How?" She wasn't a freakin' mind reader! How the hell was she supposed to change a spoon into something else? It defied chemistry and physics.

Thia smiled fully, "If you immediately know the candle light is fire --"

"The meal was cooked a long time ago. Don't start quoting Oma Desala or I will hurt you," DG said as she rolled her eyes. "What's with you and that TV show, anyway?"

She shrugged, "I like the plots. And Oma Desala was right in this instance. You need to take a more Buddhist look at this activity."

DG huffed as she glared at the spoon. "What do you want me to turn it into?"

Her response was slow, as if she was taking the time to figure out what DG would miss the most after over a week in a strange land and no friends. "Ben and Jerry's ice cream," she replied.

The look of shock she received in response was humorous. "I can do that?"

"Why not? The rules are not the same on this side as they are where you were raised, DG."

DG closed her eyes and concentrated on the spoon, trying to let her light flow through her to do her will. She cracked open an eye only to find the spoon sitting there, mocking her. With a growl she said, "It's not working right."

"That's because you're not doing it right," Thia replied matter-of-factly. DG glared at her but she just shook her head, "Now try pulling your dark magick through your and _telling_ the spoon that it's not a spoon but really Ben and Jerry's Chunky Monkey."

DG frowned in determination as she tried again. Thia watched, holding her breath. She knew that DG was powered on by the promise of _real_ ice cream if she succeeded.

After a few more moments, the dark blue light begin to flow out of DG and around the spoon, ordering it to form to DG's will. A few more moments, and in place of the spoon sat a pint on Ben and Jerry's Chunky Monkey ice cream.

DG opened her eyes and squealed in delight, clapping her hands as she picked it up. Then she growled in her throat as she glared at Thia, "Is there another spoon out here?"

Thia placed a butter knife in front of her student, "This should be a bit easier. You're not changing it on a molecular level, just the shape."

She groaned as she put down her blessed ice cream and focused her energy on the knife, telling it firmly that it really wanted to be a spoon.

"Very good," Thia commended as DG picked up the spoon with greedy hands and started eating her treat. "Most of what you need to remember is that _everything_ will bend to your magick, it's just a matter of convincing it that it wants to."

She saw movement in the corner of her eye and turned to watch a runner approach the Tin Man. Something was wrong. "Now, DG," Thia said, not minding that she was still eating her ice cream. "I want you to fan your magick out and tell me what you feel."

DG closed her eyes and did as she was bid. She imagined she was throwing her magick in a net around Finaqua and trying to pick up the life signs and other things that were there. By the hedge maze she felt something different.

"There's a group of people at the maze. They just got here. Most of the men feel ... glad to be warm. Two of them ... feel like Cain," DG finally said as she attempted to describe the leaders of this medium sized military force to the other version of herself.

"Good." Thia started to rise as gracefully as she could considering the baby. DG looked up at her and watched as she put a glamour on herself so that she looked like a pregnant Elf. "Let's go greet the troops."

DG scrambled to her feet and walked next to Thia as they approached Cain. "Why'd you do that to yourself, Thia?" she asked curiously.

Thia didn't look away from where they were headed as she responded, "No one else needs to know that there are two of us, DG. Best to just keep it with one."

Cain looked quite impatient by the time that the two princesses reached him. "Who is it?" Thia asked as if she was asking about the weather.

"Jael and Amy," he replied, the only sign that he was in turmoil was the way his hands clenched and unclenched at his sides.

"Who?" DG asked curiously.

"My sisters," Cain elaborated before turning to briskly walk to the hedge maze and what was sure to be one interesting family reunion. DG and Thia were very close behind.

* * *

A/N: There ya go. I really couldn't help myself with the Ben and Jerry's part. And some of you were getting anxious to find out what happened to Cain's family in this realty. Mitzi says thanks for the carrots.


	11. Chapter 11

Amy helped her youngest sister off her mount as their fighters had a contest of wills with the Resistance fighters already present at Finaqua. She just hoped whoever was leading them since her brother ... vanished, knew the code words set up when he was still in charge.

She felt more than heard the palace doors opened while she was looking at the sky. There was a young man returning with the guard that had gone into the palace. Amy scowled: this _couldn't_ be their leader, could it?

A hand rested itself on her arm and she turned to look at her youngest sister's all-knowing eyes. "All is not as it appears to be, Amy. Don't judge him by his age or appearance."

Amy smiled tiredly at her sister, "I know, J, it's just ... I'm tired of fighting all the time."

Jael simply nodded sagely, knowing it was not the time to speak verbally. The boy-commander had reached them. He had fiery blue eyes and dirty blonde hair that vaguely reminded Jael of someone she once knew quite well.

His voice was hard as he spoke, "You say your name is Cain?" It was an accusation coming from him that didn't bode well in Amy's way of thinking.

She saw three people approaching from the side but kept her eyes focused on the man-child before her. "Don't sound so shocked. There's always been more than one."

He shook his head minutely, "Not around these parts."

"Wyatt?" Jael's startled voice broke through the argument. Her wide eyes were full of shock and amazement as the man started running toward them. "Wyatt!" Jael exclaimed again, her heart near bursting with happiness.

"Jael," he replied, catching her in a hug. He turned to look at his other sister with a look of amazement on his face, "Amy."

Amy's own blue eyes were wide as she took in the picture of her brother. "You haven't aged at all," she whispered as she eagerly went into his embrace.

Thia nudged DG with her elbow. Speaking out of the corner of her mouth she said, "Tell the soldiers to go set up camp."

"Oh, right," DG said, raising her voice a little to be heard by the siblings. "Mr. Cain, you never said you had sisters." She smiled widely at him, her head tilted to one side, "Care to introduce us?"

Cain untangled himself from his sisters and nodded once toward DG, "Princess, these are two of my sisters, Amy Cain, and Jael Cain. This is Princess DG."

DG held out her hand and gave them her winning smile, "Pleased to meet you both."

Jael took her hand with a small smile of her own, "And you, as well."

"We'd heard that you were dead," Amy said, a frown on her sun tanned face.

DG's smile fell, "Once. But I am back now, and together we're going to heal the O.Z."

"There is so much that is too far gone already," Amy replied with a sad shake of her head. She looked back at the soldiers fanned out behind her. There were exactly eighty-seven men and women come from the north. There would be one hundred and thirty-two additional soldiers come when it was proven safe.

"You must be beat from the trek south," Jeb said with authority, not bothering to introduce himself. "Jamison," he addressed a man at his side, "Show them where they can pitch their tents if they want to stay outdoors. Otherwise, take 'em to Molly so she can get 'em set up in the barracks with the rest of the men."

Jamison inclined his head slightly, "Yes, sir, Captain Cain." Jeb shot a glare to the man's smirking face but it did no good, he had already blown his cover.

Amy took a good look at the man-child the man Jamison had just identified. She squinted her eyes slightly. "Jeb?" she asked curiously. With a small smile at his nod she added, "You've grown."

Jael attacked her nephew in a massive hug, "I'm so glad that you're alive and safe. Praise Lurline."

Her nephew had to bite back a comment about Lurline and returned his aunt's hug reluctantly.

"What news do you bring from the north?" Thia asked, redirecting the Cains' attention to the more urgent matters at hand.

Amy's blue eyes met the dark brown eyes of the "Elf" with curiosity. "The Resistance is holding strong. Most of the Longcoats and Coaters left the area after the Eclipse."

"Are these all your troops?" Cain asked with a slight frown, not seeing the mighty gryphons or elementals that made the northern mountains their home.

Amy shook her head as Jael replied, "I'll be sending a message back for the rest of them. After the scourges no one wanted to take any chances that the Witch was still alive."

Cain nodded tensely, motioning with his head that they should all go into the palace. "We'd better go revise the maps then."

"And we must return to your lesson," Thia told DG in a way that left her no way to back out and witness more of the family reunion.

Amy gave the "Elf" an appraising look before watching the princess disappear around the bend with her. She had a sinking suspicion they'd have the same walk if the prior was not pregnant.

"Leave it be, Amy," Wyatt said from her side. She gave him an accusing look and he shook his head, "Just leave it be."

She narrowed her eyes at her older brother, but nodded anyway, following her nephew into the palace to get to work stopping the Longcoats.

* * *

Bing was sparring with Ding when he felt the paper jab him in the ribs. "Ow," he said, motioning for his brother to stop fighting so he could see what was in his pocket that he had clearly forgotten about.

Ding scowled at his brother, "What's wrong?"

His brother's eyes widened in horror as he looked at the paper he'd had in his pocket. There was a note to him on the front that was clearly written in the Prince-Man's writing. "_Give this one to him first_," it read.

"Ut oh," Bing said, showing the letter to Ding.

"Yeah," Ding replied, dropping his fork as he patted his brother on the back. "Nice knowing you."

Bing glared at his brother, "Why just me? Prince-Man Bog _all_ of us when he finds out."

Ding shook his head, "If he finds out."

"_If_?" Bing screamed at him, "He's Prince-Man! He _always_ finds out!"

"Prince-Man always finds out _what_?" Thia asked from the doorway as she and DG moved into the indoor practice court to work on self-defense.

Bing quickly hid the letter behind his back, the two goblins looking up at their mistress with wide eyes. "Nothing," they said in unison.

Thia gave them a hard, appraising look. "Care to rethink that statement?" DG would never admit it, but she was a little jealous with how well her double was making her voice and face become the same icy cold that her mother used when she was upset.

Ding and Bing looked at each other before Bing slumped in defeat and shuffled forward to hand his Princess-Lady the other letter.

As her hand closed in on the letter, Thia raised her eyebrow. Without spending much time looking over the paper in her hand, she tucked it into her belt to look at later.

Just then Azkadellia came flying into the room with Glitch hot on her heels.

"We're not late, are we?" she huffed as she looked at the guards and the two versions of her sister. "And why do you look like an Elf?"

Thia smirked slightly, "No, you're not late. And I look like this because it'll be a lot easier to explain an Elf than it will an alternate version of your sister."

"Good idea," Glitch said with a quirky smile. "So, oh-mighty-one, what's first?"

"Stretches."

* * *

That night at dinner, there was little talk at the Gale side of the table as the Cain sisters explained what was going on up north. Dg listened intently as Amy explained what the problems were for the towns in the north, as well as what the problems were for the Resistance faction they led.

"How are you going to send a message back to the rest of your army?" DG asked at a lull in the conversation between siblings.

Jael sent her a small smile, "I already have. They will be able to travel much faster than we were -- the rest of _your_ forces should be here by the rising of the second sun."

DG raised her eyebrows in surprise, "I thought it took you three days to get here?"

"They won't be walking, DG," Thia said softly, drawing some attention to herself as she explained to the younger princess, "In the morning, look to the north and you'll see."

DG frowned, "See what?" she asked, turning to Cain.

"A sight worth waitin' for," he replied cryptically. His eyes softened around the edges watching her, but that was the only outward sign of his emotions. After the letter from Thia's version of him ... he had no idea what to think. Were his feelings for DG preordained?

Jael watched the interaction before skillfully interjecting, "Gwen had another baby, Wyatt."

"Really?" he replied, remembering his bubbly older sister who seemed to always have a little one around. When the Witch had taken control, she had gone underground, doing everything in her power to keep her children safe. "A boy or a girl?"

"Boy," Jael replied. "She named him after you."

Thia had to look down at her plate to hide the tears that brimmed her eyes. Her sister-in-law Gwen had died an annual prior, from what the doctors on the Other Side used to call typhoid. She hadn't been able to see a healer until it was too late to do anything but make her comfortable. Now her widower was left raising their ten living children by himself.

She desperately wanted to question about the rest of the family, but she couldn't force the words past her throat. It was Jeb who did what she found she could not.

"What about Babette and Hanah?" the young man asked curiously. "Where are they now?"

Amy cast a wary look toward where Azkadellia sat beside her sister, "Last we heard, they were running courier for the Eastern Resistance."

Thia's eyes remained fixed on her plate, unable to look up and face Jael's knowing eyes as Jeb continued, "And Uncle Elliot?"

Jael shook her head, "No word since he was arrested at the cell that fell the same day your father ..."

Cain brought his head up and gave his youngest sister a hard, icy glare, "Say it, Jael. The day I screwed up and got caught."

At that Thia looked up and glared at him, her gaze stopping him from continuing. She turned to Jael and Amy, "And your parents?"

Jael furrowed her brow, tilting her head to one side in a way that emphasized her short locks of hair. "Mom's with Gwen, helping her take care of the children. She moved there after Papa died three annuals ago. Why do you care, Thia?"

The color drained from Thia's face as she was confronted with how much this reality differed from her own. Jack's heart condition had been discovered early enough to fix in her reality. She didn't listen as Cain took in a deep, shuddering breath at the news that his father was dead.

"Excuse me," she said as she rose from her seat, hoping to calm her stomach and her mind. As she briskly walked from the room, Thia dropped her glamour and headed toward the one place she could find the answers that she sought.

* * *

Thia ran through the corridors until she came upon a seemingly innocuous mirror on the wall. To any passerby it would appear to be just like the dozens of other mirrors that lined the walls, but she knew better. Summoning up a mixture of light and dark magick, Thia focused it on the mirror. She had to know.

The picture that met her eyes of the Labyrinth was filled with horror and decay. A cry escaped her throat as she watched the decay worsen as her uncle did nothing to fulfill his duties as Goblin King. The desert at the edge of the Labyrinth all Runners started at had spread. Hoggle's hut was no more, and the desert now threatened the hedge maze and fiery's forest.

Unheeded, tears fell down Thia's face as she watched Sarah transport to a hospital bed inside the castle. It was all her uncle could do to keep the both of them alive: he forgot about the duties of his crown.

She felt arms wrap around her legs at the goblins watched the decline with her. Homes destroyed, lives lost, all in a desperate attempt to keep the Labyrinth alive.

A few minutes later, after witnessing what was annuals of neglect, Thia let her magick flow back into her with a gasp. Uncaring of the two goblins still attached to her legs, she began to run back to the dining room to alert the others.

* * *

After Thia exited the dining room, Cain gave his sisters his infamous Tin Man glare as he asked, "What happened to Dad?"

Jeb looked intently at his aunts as they fidgeted under his father's gaze. His mother had made sure they had little communication with his side of the family after Zero had found them. He hadn't known that his grandfather was dead, either.

Amy's sorrowful eyes met her idolized brother's reluctantly, "The medic said it was his heart." Her face became a stone mask as she switched topics, "Care to tell me who the hell Thia is? She doesn't walk like an Elf, _or_ someone who's spent the last fifteen annuals under defective leadership."

"You're right," Cain replied, his voice even. "She's here to make sure we don't screw things up worse than they already are."

She turned her head to the Queen and Prince Consort, who were looking rather suspiciously guilty. The woman's dirty blonde hair whipped around her face as she turned to look at her brother and nephew again. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

Surprisingly for the Resistance fighter, it was Azkadellia who answered, "It means that you can tell the people in the north to get ready to harvest crops they didn't plant. She's going to help us save the people of the O.Z. from starving come winter."

The older Cain woman bit back an unkind response to the elder princess's concerns. It was Jael who added, "She will guide you to restore the Balance. Be wary, lest she takes too much upon herself. There are two roads laid out ahead of us, that one leads to horrors worse than what we've just gone through."

When DG looked at her, she noticed that the younger Cain's eyes had glazed over with a kind of silvery layer as she spoke. However, when Jael blinked, they went back to their normal shade of blue.

"Lurline sent her here," Jael said with confidence, explaining to her sister and confirming what everyone else already knew, "to prevent a civil war. The Balance has shifted and it needs to be compensated for, otherwise the O.Z. will fall."

"I'm afraid it's a bit more severe than that," Thia said from the doorway. Everyone turned to look at her, dread rising up inside them at the sight of her minus her glamour, and her three goblins dressed in armor with their forks drawn. "The Labyrinth is about to fall."

DG frowned at the panic that was rising in everyone around her. "That's bad?" she asked her doppelganger as Thia walked more fully into the room.

Thia nodded as Azkadellia replied, "There's a reason the Witch never breached the Labyrinth, Deej. It's the hub of dozens of different dimensions -- possibly hundreds. If it falls, then they will collapse upon each other in chaos."

"Oh. That's bad," her younger sister said, eyes widening as the severity of the situation hit her.

* * *

A/N: A cliff hanger because school is starting next week, I just spent $150 on only half my books and will have to pay about that for the other half, and because my birthday was on Wednesday. ... Mostly because my birthday was on Wednesday. I've been quitee eager to get to these scenes that are coming up. Are you excited? I am.


	12. Chapter 12

"What do we do?" Ahamo asked the room at large after Thia's disheartening news sunk in.

"We cannot allow the Labyrinth to fall," Nesa declared with a stubborn glint in her eyes.

Thia nodded once, "You're right. I'll have to take both princesses there tomorrow so that she may choose."

"Choose? Who gets to choose? Choose what?" DG asked curiously, getting a bit tired of the whole 'save the world' thing she seemed to be on. It didn't help that people seemed to get off on only telling her half of what she needed to know. What'd they expect from her? Telepathy?

"The Labyrinth." DG turned to look at her Tin Man. Usually she found she could easily read his eyes, but now they were as stone to her as they were to everyone else in the room. "It'll choose one of you to take over for your uncle."

"She," Thia insisted, pointedly ignoring the look of curiosity Amy was sending her way. "Not an 'it,' Mr. Cain, but a '_she_.' The Labyrinth prefers to appear as a woman."

"What about the crops?" Jeb cut in before the conversation could digress from the issues at hand. "You promised us they'd be full grown by week's end."

"And so they shall," Thia replied with another curt nod. "We'll just have to heal the O.Z. tonight."

"_What_?!" the cry went up from multiple people in the room and didn't stop until Thia raised her hand as she had done shortly after arriving in that reality. The group fell silent semi-willingly so that their vocal chords would remain under their own control.

"Anyone got a better idea?" she asked, her eyebrow raised unknowingly in a mimic of her husband's look when he was getting irritated.

"Can't you wait a day or so to heal the O.Z.?" Jeb asked with a frown, thinking of the letter his doppelganger had written to him.

"Not unless you want those crops to come up underneath a frost," Azkadellia replied with a sorrowful gaze. The Witch hadn't exactly encouraged farmers to plant, nor to cultivate. In fact, all the land she deemed 'unnecessary' and 'unworthy' was razed with fire before being sown with salt to keep it fallow.

Thia moved to the window as the group tried to think of other plans that would prove less dangerous. She knew they probably wouldn't think of anything, and the longer they spent in there twiddling their thumbs, the greater their chance of failure at one or both of the tasks at hand.

She felt the baby stir inside of her as she looked out at the forest beneath them. Things always seemed so much clearer when she had Wyatt by her side. Unconscious of the fact, tears began to slide down her face as she thought of her husband. The ache inside of her for him was so great it was near all-consuming. How as she supposed to save this reality when she could barely keep up her mask of calm assuredness?

* * *

Jael watched the mysterious woman by the window, from her spot on the far end of the table. It was covered in plates of food that no one seemed interested in eating anymore, their attention now focused on the terrible news this Thia had just given them.

She looked so similar to their Princess DG, they could have been twins if not for a few differences in appearance. Thia's nose had been broken at least once before -- there was a hard edge to her that DG didn't have despite what she'd been through. It seemed as if the pregnant woman knew more about what they were up against than anyone else in the room.

The priestess wasn't surprised when she didn't turn around as Azkadellia spoke up, "If we can wait until the Witching Hour to heal the O.Z. ... it would help."

Thia turned to look at the recently freed princess, "Are you Land-bound, Azkadellia?"

Az faltered for a moment before shaking her head, "No, I'm not."

"Then your mother will have to help you," Thia continued. "A Land-bound Witch is the only one the Witching Hour would help."

"I cannot help," Nesa replied firmly, her voice soft but firm. "My light is not what it once was."

Thia turned to look at the alternate version of her mother, the child inside of her restless with her mother's agitation at the lie. Thia's back was straight and ridged as she

"Your majesty," Thia said, her tone so controlled it caused the Cain's to look away in discomfort, "You and I are the only ones in here who know not only how to bring a person back to life, but what the _costs_ of doing so are." Her blue eyes bored into the other woman's pale lavender orbs. "As a Land-bound monarch, those costs and consequences would be extremely different."

Nesa's own glare turned glacial as the staring match intensified, "Why would I lie about my light?"

Thia approached her steadily, "The same reason you didn't tell your daughters about the cave." Nesa looked away from her eyes, so Thia turned her attention to Ahamo, as she added, "The same reason you told your husband to return to this side of the Between instead of staying with your younger daughter."

"Hey!" DG said loudly, causing Thia to turn to her, "Stop it. She can't change the past any more than I can. And she is _not_ the woman who wished you away."

Thia looked down contritely, "My apologies."

"Now," DG said, sending a hard look to her parents and her double, letting them know that she was not going to sit idly by while they made plans. "What are we going to do about the crops? And what the hell is the Witching Hour?"

"It's the time of night when the magickal charge in the air is strongest," Glitch explained as he walked in with Raw beside him. DG gave him a questioning look and he shrugged, "Fuzzy here felt something big going on. He wanted to come check it out."

She nodded, sending them both a relieved smile. For a minute there, she was beginning to feel outnumbered. "Okay, then. We wait until the Witching Hour -- at the very least it'll give us time to rest and prepare."

When the rest of the people in the room continued to stare at her in silence, DG gave them an exasperated look and drew on her years of viewing television commanders. "Leave now. You all have a war to get ready for, don't you?"

* * *

Thia nearly ran from the room, making her way quickly to the nearest bathroom so that she could expel her supper from her stomach. After retching into the toilet a few times, she weakly reached up to flush away the evidence before her hitching breathes turned to sobs. At times like this she really hated being pregnant.

"I want to go home," she whispered as she laid her head on the cool tile floor of the guest bathroom.

Tears trailed down her face as she thought about her family and compared them to the people that surrounded her now. There was a reason she didn't exchange more than a few words with her mother or father, and DG thought it was because of being wished away. Thia only wished it was because of her mother's wish.

Azkadellia seemed to need protecting in both worlds, but Thia couldn't help but yearn for her passionate sister who fought for what was best for her people, and had so much room in her heart for love. Just like Ambrose, her dearest Ambrose who here was forever locked in as Glitch. Or the Viewer Raw that she had only known for a short while, but here seemed to offer DG so much comfort. His skills really were as strong as Lylo had boasted.

Then her thoughts shifted to her other family. Her Jeb, so good with his tutors and dreading the day when he has to go away to finish his schooling. He was almost nothing like this version of Jeb who was so hardened by seeing so much evil, but there was the same spark in his eyes.

Part of her thought that Gwen must be the same in every reality: popping out a baby every few annuals and raising them to be good, strong men and women who acted the same way they believed. In fact, she could see each one of her in-laws following the same path their doppelgangers had if they'd been in the same position. That was the point, right?

When she began to think about Wyatt, the tears assaulted her with a vengeance.

In the corner of her mind she felt the goblins starting to take note of her distress, but she locked the door and put up a magickal barrier so that they couldn't get through. She didn't need them to see her cry and try to comfort her. The one person she wanted to comfort her wasn't even _in_ this reality. No, her husband was tucked away safe and sound in their own reality with his son, waiting for her to come home.

She felt a magickal disturbance within the bathroom she had holed herself up in, but Thia didn't even raise her head. The scent was recognizable.

"Well, well, well, this is a fine way to do your job," the Metatron berated her as he appeared, sitting on top of the counter next to the sink.

Her red rimmed eyes stared at the wall beneath his feet. Her voice was raspy from throwing up and crying as she replied, "I never asked for this job. You gave it to me."

"Yes, well, don't make us regret that decision," he replied in a clipped, English accent. "Do the job we assigned to you, and go home."

An idea took root in Thia's mind as she thought about that statement. "No," she replied as she finally looked up at her supernatural visitor. "I won't do another damn thing for you or Lurline."

"Dangerous words," the Metatron replied, hopping off the counter to kneel in front of the prone woman. He cocked his head to one side, "What do you want, Thia?"

She licked her lips to put moisture back into the parched skin as she raised herself up on her arm so that she was eye to eye with the Alan Rickman Metatron. "I. Want. My. Husband."

When he didn't respond for a few minutes she continued, "Either send me home, or send my husband to me. Otherwise, I will sit back and watch as this universe is pulled apart by the forces of chaos."

The Metatron rose to his feet and stared down at her as he contemplated her ultimatum.

"I'll make it easier for you," she said, her loose curls falling around her face wildly, "You have until the Witching Hour to reunite me with my husband. Otherwise there is no way in this or any other universe that you and your goddess will get me to save this sorry excuse for a world."

* * *

Thia felt confident for the first time since arriving in the reality as she made her way down to the kitchen. Her three little shadows were not far behind.

She was a little shocked, though not surprised, when she ran into Cain as she entered the otherwise vacant room. He blocked the doorway as she tried to get passed to move into the She _was_ surprised, however, when he grabbed her arm and asked if he could talk with her for a minute or two.

"Of course, Mr. Cain," Thia replied, motioning for him to take a seat at the small table in the corner. It was a little hard for her to believe that it had just been that morning that she had made omelets for Lya and the goblins before going off to see Zero. Instead of sitting, however, both of them stood at opposite ends of the table, as if both were prepared to run away at a moment's notice.

"What can I do for you?" she asked, her eyes making contact with his and refusing to look away.

He raised an eyebrow at her bluntness, "First off you can tell me what was goin' on back there. Seems like you've got a real problem with the queen -- and it wasn't just because what happened in your reality."

She nodded once, "You're right." Leaning forward she added, "If you knew what had really happened fifteen annuals ago, in this reality as well as my own, you wouldn't be so quick to rush to her defense, either, Mr. Cain."

"Then why don't you tell me what happened," he asked, keeping his voice even as he slipped into interrogation mode. He couldn't protect DG without the facts.

Thia chuckled without humor as she shook her head, "No." Her eyes grew sad as she added, "One day she will wake up from a nightmare that she doesn't understand. If she's anything like me, she'll go to you and she'll try to explain it."

His mind flashed back to the night after the eclipse when a similar situation had played itself out in DG's sitting room where he had set up camp.

"You'll know what happened then," Thia concluded. She reached into her belt and pulled out the letter her husband had written to the man across from her. "Look, I know this isn't easy for you, Mr. Cain. Having me here, and all."

"Not exactly easy for you either," he said, trying to be understanding. "Noticed you've been avoiding me, though. Ever since you got here."

Thia shook her head as she slid the letter across the table. Her eyes were full of so much emotion as she met his icy blue eyes again. "I know things, Mr. Cain, that would be too painful for you to hear. Things no one in this reality should know."

"What's this?" Cain asked, tapping the letter with one of his fingers. "Ding already gave me a letter."

Thia nodded as she looked down at the note, "Yeah. That's the thing about goblins: they make terrible couriers. My husband meant for you to read this one first."

Cain slid the letter off the table and put it in his pocket, putting both of his hands flat on the table between them. His gaze hooked on the simple copper wedding band on his finger. "What happened to Adora?" he finally asked, his voice devoid of emotion.

She looked at the wedding ring on his finger, the memory of her own wedding playing in her mind as if it was yesterday. When she opened her mouth to speak, she was unsure how to phrase exactly what had happened to her husband and step-son all those annuals before. After a moment to gather her thoughts, she decided the blunt truth was the best, "She ... left you and Jeb a few weeks after he was born. You were traveling with the Mystic Man and came home to find a note on the table and Jeb at your parents' house."

Her words sunk into him like lead. He didn't want to believe it was possible for Adora to abandon them like that ... but he could remember the trip he had gone on with the Mystic Man when Jeb was only a few weeks old. For some reason (now that he thought about it, it was probably because of the Witch) they had turned back from their ten day trip after only three days. Adora had been beside herself with worry about not being a good mother and other nonsense like that ... worried enough, apparently, to leave Jeb in the care of his mother and run away.

"Then what happened?" he asked, his voice gruff as he continued to stare at his wedding ring.

"No," Thia shook her head. "I'm not going to tell you any more, Mr. Cain. You don't need those memories. Just know that it all worked out in the end, and the woman you remember loving in this world, is not the same as the woman from mine."

Cain just inclined his head once. "I have to go check on Amy and Jael," he said, excusing himself from the room with a hurried step.

Thia watched him go and wanted to scream in frustration. She started banging mixing bowls together as she got out the necessary items to start a cooking bonanza in the kitchen. Baking always seemed to help her get control of her emotions when her husband was being an ass. A slight smile crossed her face as she thought about the fact that by sunsrise she would be in her husband's arms -- whether he knew it yet, or not.

* * *

A/N: Haha! I made it! My first class doesn't start for another hour! I hope you enjoyed Thia losing her composure and acting like a bit of a bitch in this chapter. Just wait until next time. Tehe.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Sorry for the wait.  


* * *

The bread she was making had just been set down for it's second rise when the quiet Thia was enjoying was broken by the arrival of Jeb.

"There's something inherently wrong about this entire situation," he proclaimed when he saw her lounging in the kitchen with a book in her hands.

She glanced up at him as he came further into the kitchen. "What are you reading?" he asked curiously as he got a glass of juice from the ice box.

Thia didn't look up from the page as she replied, "_Good Omens_."

"Really? Haven't heard of it," he said, hopping on top of the counter as he drank deeply from his cup of what tasted like freshly squeezed orange juice. He shrugged, "Then again, books haven't exactly been published recently."

"It's from the Other Side," Thia replied. "Takes place in some country called Britain where apparently they only have three flavors of ice cream."

"Are you making bread?" he asked, a hint of disbelief in his tone as he eyed the cloth covered mound he had plopped up beside. He reached out a finger and poked it experimentally.

She raised an eyebrow as she lowered the book, "If you touch it, you might hurt it, Jeb. I know your grandmother taught you that. And your point?"

He shook his head, an idea forming in his mind that he wanted to try out. "I just figured you for one who made cakes better."

Her lips twitched up at that. _Of course _her son had told him about that. As sweetly as she could she replied, "Would you like me to make you a cake, Jeb?"

His suspicious eyes turned to her at her tone, his head tilted to one side as he appraised her casual appearance. Now that he thought about it, she was the only one who really seemed to "fit" what the queen and prince consort seemed to have been expecting with DG and Azkadellia. She certainly was the only one that seemed at ease in Finaqua.

"Grandma's chocolate cake?" he asked, narrowing his eyes as if he was about to catch her in a lie of some kind. At her nod, he jumped off the counter, "What can I do to help?"

Thia rose from her seat gingerly, all too aware of her screwed up balance thanks to the melon attached to her stomach. "Find the chocolate," she replied in a dry tone. In a more cheerful manner she added, "I'll start mixing the dry ingredients together."

"And it's gonna taste _just_ like Grandma's?" he asked dubiously as he went to scout out the baking chocolate in the newly restored pantry.

Thia rolled her eyes, "No, not _exactly_ the same, but it does end up pretty damn close."

* * *

"How did ... _he_ take it when you and Dad started courting?" Jeb asked Thia as they sat at the kitchen table with steaming cups of coffee and tea respectively.

Thia smiled at the memory of Jeb in his younger years. "We told him right after he got to ride on a dragon, so Jeb already thought I was the bee's knees by that point. I never tried to replace Adora, and he never treated me like I was trying to take his father from him. Don't get me wrong, there were bad points for all of us, but we worked through them."

Jeb swallowed a mouthful of coffee as he tried to work out the dynamics of this other reality in his mind. "He loves you," he finally said in a resigned manner. He still wasn't sure how he felt about Princess DG, let alone how to approach this.

Thia nodded, "I know. I love him, too. Even if I wasn't the woman who gave birth to him."

He shook his head, the smell of the baking cake and bread floating over them in waves. "I don't understand," he whispered, sounding much younger than his sixteen annuals.

She snaked her arm across the table and grasped his hand in a gentle squeeze. "You shouldn't have to understand, Jeb. His mother is not your mother. Your mother loved you very much and she didn't let her fears rule her life. His mother _did_."

Jeb looked up at her with watery eyes, remembering the look in his mother's face as she pushed him back into the house right before her last stand against the Longcoats. "What happened?" he finally asked, clearing his throat of the lump that had risen with his tears.

She thought about how to put what she knew had happened into words. After a moment she replied, "She got scared when my Jeb was a baby. She didn't know how to handle it, so she ran away."

"Can you ... tell me about it? About him?" he asked, silently imploring her to understand why he wanted to know so badly.

Her blue eyes searched his for a long moment before she finally nodded. "I first met Jeb when he was eleven annuals old. He was a real trouble maker, even then ..."

* * *

"By the time he figured out how to fix the damn thing, it was too late: the guards had passed on the news to my husband and me, the Duke's daughter was in tears, and somehow he managed to sew what appeared to be a few black chicken feathers onto the hat with the flower."

Jeb was having a hard time controlling his laughter at the antics of his alternate other. Thia had a way of telling a story that made him feel as if he was there and could see the other him taking the hat from the linen closet on the suggestion of one of the goblins. It sounded like galas and dinner parties were never dull with a young Jeb Cain around.

"Rosalinda never the same after that," Ring piped in with a sad shake of his head. "Never Chicken Queen again after chased by Duke's daughter."

"Chicken Queen?" Jeb asked curiously.

Thia nodded, "Yeah. Rosalinda. What looked like a few feathers was actually a full chicken he sewed onto her hat. She was the three annual reigning Chicken Queen in tossing, kicking, running, and pecking."

"Kicking?" he asked curiously.

She grinned impishly at him but refused to answer as he got up to get the cake out of the oven before it began to burn. Setting it beside the already cooling bread, she asked him, "What was it like growing up with the Resistance? It must have been terrible to always be on the run like that."

His face fell into a grim line as he thought about how different his childhood was from the one she had just revealed to him. "It had it's moments," he finally said. "Nothing like that, though."

Internally wincing at her blunder, Thia used a bit of magick to cool the cake off quickly and motioned him over, "Come on and help me frost this. I know you're about as good at waiting as a munchkin is at singing. The sooner we frost it, the sooner we eat it." His mouth quirked up slightly at the analogy, but he got the frosting out of the ice box and went to help her as she put the first layer of the round cake on a platter.

They had just finished frosting the first layer and Jeb was centering the second layer of four on top when a sleepy looking, young Viewer stumbled into the kitchen.

"Kalm, what are you doing up?" Jeb asked with a slight frown. DG would be pissed if she knew he wasn't sleeping well.

The child Viewer looked at the Resistance leader with wide eyes, "Kalm smell cake."

Thia's heart burst at the sight of the cute looking lad. "Do you want to help?" she asked, reaching into the drawer for another spatula to smooth on the milk chocolate, cream cheese frosting.

Kalm nodded eagerly, rushing over to the other side of the counter to help them frost the cake. No one commented that most of the frosting on his spatula was going into his mouth and not only the cake. There was more than enough to go around.

* * *

"Az I don't know what to do," DG confessed to her sister as they sat on the floor in front of the fireplace in Azkadellia's sitting room. "I feel like a fish out of water that's been asked to save all the birds."

"DG," Az replied, moving to take her hand, "You're not a fish. You're a bird, too ... you just never learned how to fly."

The younger sister mulled that over in her mind for a spell before getting up the courage to ask a question that had been plaguing her for some time now. "Do you like Thia, Az?"

"What do you mean?" Az asked, shifting her weight so that her back was resting against the front of the sofa. She was amazed at how much it had started to ache in the past few days. Whether from the pregnancy or the stress, she neither knew nor cared.

DG looked down at her hands as she answered, "She understands you so much more than I do. And ... I don't know, but she seems to fit here in a way that I can't."

"Of _course_ she knows things about me that you don't, Deej," Az replied, tugging her sister's arm to get her to scoot closer. "Just like I suspect that her sister knows things about you that I don't. We were apart for fifteen annuals," Az shook her head slightly, her eyebrows drawn together as she spoke. "But we can learn about each other now, Deej."

The younger woman rested her head on her sister's shoulder, trying to work through what she had said. "When did you get to be so smart, Az?"

Az snorted softly, "I'd say about five minutes after I found out I was pregnant."

DG let out a laugh, "What do you want to name the baby?"

A fanciful sigh was her answer, "Charlotte."

The decidedly Other Side name made DG sit up and look at her sister curiously. Az shifted uncomfortably under the scrutiny as DG asked, "Why?"

Az smiled slightly as she responded, "When Daddy came here from the Other Side he had a bag of books with him. One of them was a collection of novels and poetry by Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë." She leaned forward as she told DG about their shared childhood in an attempt to trigger some of her memories, "When we were little, I used to read to you every day while Mom and Dad were in council meetings and whatnot. When I was nine, Daddy gave me that collection to read. _Jane Eyre_ was always one of our favorites. I was rereading it to you when we were at Finaqua."

DG frowned as she caught glimpses of what her life used to be like. She closed her eyes as she thought about the well known story of the plain girl known as Jane Eyre and her Mr. Rochester. "I always felt happy," she said slowly, "When I read that book. I never knew why, but it always felt like ... coming home after a long trip away." Her eyes opened and she smiled at her sister, "I think that was you I was remembering, Az. Sitting on your bed, curled up underneath the covers as you tried to wrap your tongue around words you'd never heard before."

Az's smile grew to fill her face, and even went so far as to reach into her eyes and light them up from the inside. "You do remember."

Her younger sister snorted, "I remember you trying to read _Wuthering Heights _with me when I was four. We got so far as Catherine's ghost visiting Mr. Lockwood and I screamed so badly that Mother told you not to let me listen to you read that story until I was at least ten."

"And then we started rereading _Jane Eyre_," Az added with a twinkle in her eyes.

DG's grin faltered a little as she remembered why they had stopped reading their favorite book that time. She would have mentioned it, but Azkadellia sensed the change in demeanor and cut it off with a smile and a light laugh DG hadn't heard in ages, "All this talk of reading has me surprisingly hungry. Let's go sneak down to the kitchen and get a snack."

"Are you sure that's not the baby making you hungry?" DG jibbed.

"I'm quite positive that it's not," Az replied as they got to their feet and put on their shoes to protect their soft skin from the cold, stone floors. "I wouldn't dream of placing blame on my baby for something that little Charlotte didn't do."

"Now you're 'quite positive' that it's a girl?" DG asked with a smirk.

Az smiled as they quitted her rooms, "As positive as Thia is that she's having a boy."

* * *

They made their way down to the kitchens with as much stealth as two giggling women could muster. For a short blessed time they were just two sisters off in search of a midnight snack. The weight of the world did not rest upon their shoulders, and the most pressing matter to attend to involved chocolate, whipped cream, and some fruit DG called bananas but Azkadellia insisted were really bear-fruit.

As they approached the door to the kitchen, they heard more laughter coming from inside. It seemed they weren't the only ones taking the night off from worrying. DG was pretty sure she could hear Jeb and Raw laughing from behind the partition.

"Kalm, give that back!" Thia cried playfully as she chased the young Viewer around the kitchen.

"No," Kalm replied as he jumped behind the counter, his uncle's laughs egging him on. He hugged his prize, that neither princess could see clearly, closer to his chest as he ran, careful not to bump into anything and spill it on the floor.

Thia grinned, unaware of her increased audience, shrieked in mock irritation as she stopped running. "I spent hours making that Kalm," she said with a mock glare, "It's not nice to steal other people's cake."

"Cake?" DG's head perked up. Her head whipped around to look at Jeb and Raw only to find two heaping pieces of chocolate cake in front of them, and the rest of the cake sitting, tauntingly in the middle of the table, just waiting for her to eat it.

Thia glanced back at the two other princesses as Jeb and Raw's laughter died down to intermittent chuckles. "Help yourselves," she replied, sending another glare to Kalm. "_Someone_ might as well enjoy it since apparently I can't."

As Kalm scooted out from behind the counter and went to sit between Jeb and Raw with his massively huge piece of chocolate cake and DG and Az went to join them, Thia turned toward the table and pouted at the unfairness of it all.

"Dot, were you gonna eat chocolate cake when we had a deal?" a new, slightly amused and irritated male voice asked.

DG watched as Thia's eyes widened as she recognized the voice that sounded very similar to Wyatt Cain's. The two women turned toward the door and both were a little shocked to see a more refined version of Mr. Cain standing there with his arms crossed.

Thia's breath caught in her throat as she approached him. Her eyes were wide and her voice breathless as she reached out and smoothed a hand lovingly over his face, "Wyatt?"

"Dot," he replied, his voice and eyes much softer than they had been moments before.

"You haven't been sleeping," she accused him softly, the hint of a scowl on her face.

He smiled as he wrapped his arms around her small body, "And you've been crying."

As she fell into his embrace with a hitched breath, the others in the room turned away from the couple. The four adults were slightly uncomfortable with the open display of affection, and all of them couldn't help but wonder why Thia's husband was there in the first place.

* * *

A/N: Disregard all comments about Rosalinda unless you have read **Lixxle**'s _Labyrinth_ story "My Fine Feathered Friend." Otherwise, just look at it as a very violent black chicken.

Oh, and I officially don't know why I decided it was a good idea to take three literature classes at the same time as a tutoring internship. I think I might be insane.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: I had every intention of posting this over last weekend, but FF was down when I went to do it ... And then my computer broke so I had to find access somewhere to do it at school. Sorry for the wait.

* * *

"Dot?" Wyatt asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Hmm?" she mumbled into his chest, refusing to pull away.

"Can we sit down?" his voice was as calm as his features, but Thia could tell that he was in pain at the slightly increased register of his voice.

His wife pulled back immediately and ushered him to the table. "What'd you do, Wyatt?" she demanded, the fiercely protective quality to her love coming out to play in full force.

He grimaced as he sat down in a spare chair next to Raw and Jeb. "Just sparrin' with Ambrose."

Thia scowled at him before moving to stand behind him. She lifted up the back of his shirt to reveal a very large bruise starting to turn his pale skin purple. With a small growl, she directed a small bit of her magick to heal his bruises. She tsked at him, "You need to start wearing better padding if you're gonna be sparring with Glitch like this."

He scowled at her as she sat down next to him, "I was wearin' plenty of paddin'. He was just takin' out his frustration on me."

Thia raised an eyebrow at him as the others watched in silence. "And _how_, pray tell, did you wind up on the receiving end of his frustration?"

Wyatt glared at her again, "He was _real_ angry."

Thia's amused air fell as she took in the news, "What happened? Is Kelsey all right?"

"Kelsey's fine. Just got cold feet accordin' to the note." He accepted the cup of tea his wife magicked for him with a nod.

"Again?" she asked, not realizing that no one else at the table would be able to follow their conversation. "This makes the fourth time they've had to postpone the wedding."

"Wait a second," DG jumped into the conversation. "Your Glitch has a girlfriend?"

For some reason unknown to her, this question caused her doppelganger to snort. The alternate version of her Tin Man smirked at the idea as he replied with a simple, "I wouldn't exactly call Kelsey his girlfriend."

At her look of confusion, Thia decided to help her out a little, "Try thinking along the lines of Kelsey Grammar instead of Barbie."

"Oh," was all DG could say to that lovely revelation.

Azkadellia narrowed her gaze at the doppelganger of her sister, "Was that an Other Side reference to Ambrose's sexual preferences?"

Thia smirked widely as she nodded once in the affirmative. This, of course, sent DG into a fit of laughter for some unknown reason, which caused Az and Kalm to start laughing along with her.

How unfortunate, then, that the Wyatt Cain born in this reality chose that moment to enter the kitchen in search of the two wayward princesses and their wayward guest.

His quick eyes took in the situation and he felt something clench inside his chest at the scene before him. There was something utterly wrong about watching _himself_ acting like _that_ with a woman he had sworn to protect at all costs.

Of course, it was his doppelganger that first noticed his presence while the other occupants of the kitchen tried to get a hold on their laughter.

Thia felt her husband go stiff beside her as he silently sized up the alternate version of himself. She looked up and noticed Cain standing in the doorway and the smile fell off her face.

"Would you care to join us, Mr. Cain?" she asked politely, her voice barely heard over the ruckus of barely restrained laughter.

He shook his head minutely as Jeb turned to look at him. "Dad!" he said with a smile Cain hadn't seen in annuals. "You've gotta try this cake. Tastes just like Grandma's."

DG turned around and said with a very friendly smile, "Hi, Cain. Want some cake? It's really good."

His eyes flickered to her face and Wyatt saw something in them change for a split second before he said, "Maybe later, Princess. Right now your mother wants to see both of you. It's time."

Raw got up from his seat and ushered Kalm to the door, "Time for bed for Kalm. Raw meet you later."

"Kalm stay," the young Viewer protested around a yawn.

"No, Kalm _sleep_," his uncle replied firmly as he led him down the hall.

"Uncle Raw no fun."

"Had lots of practice."

---

The tension rose in the room as Wyatt and Cain continued their silent battle of wills.

It just so happened that Thia and DG got fed up with the display of ... whatever the hell it was, at the same time and both sniped simultaneously, "Will you two just _stop_ it?"

"Mother can wait a few more minutes," DG added stubbornly, picking up her fork again. "I haven't had chocolate in almost two weeks."

Thia snorted, "You think that's bad?" she asked, leaning across the table slightly. She jerked her thumb toward her husband as her eyes twinkled, "He hasn't let me have anything even remotely _resembling_ chocolate or coffee since he found out I was pregnant."

DG's eyes widened in horror at the thought of having to go months without her beloved chocolate or so much as a sip of the wondrously refreshing drink that was coffee.

Wyatt glared at his wife, "You make it sound like you're the only one not allowed to drink coffee, Dot."

She turned to him and shook her head definitively, "I have no pity for you, General Cain," she said firmly. "Serves you right, taking away my chocolate."

Cain quietly took a seat next to DG, watching the interaction with a touch of awe. So this was what they would act like after knowing each other for a few annuals?

"It was Jeb's idea," Thia's husband protested as she used a spark of magick to transform her chocolate cake into carrot cake.

She turned to look at him with wide, shocked eyes, "I can't believe you would blame _that_ on your son. The only part of that idea that was his was that _everyone_ stop drinking coffee so I wouldn't be alone in my perpetual suffering until the baby's born."

"Ozma, Dot! You're making it sound like I asked you to wear a haircloth until the baby's born."

Her wide eyes somehow became even wider, "Oh, no, sweetheart," she said with a bit of sarcasm lacing her words, "Just go on a nine month Lent."

"What's Lent?" Jeb asked, bringing the couple's attention back to the group and away from their inconsequential argument.

"An exercise in torture on the Other Side that happens annually and goes on for forty days and nights," Thia said blandly.

"Otherwise known as the time in which Catholics are forced to give up one of their favorite things," DG added with a smile at Jeb's shocked face. "Last year my friend gave up all kinds of sugar for Lent and right before it started she went on a sugar eating binge."

Thia sent her husband a mock glare, "And I wasn't even given any warning about the no-chocolate edict before it was put into affect. One day the kitchen has a lovely surplus, and the next even the bakers in the city won't give me any."

"Are you done, Dot?" Wyatt asked, wondering why he was even there if all his wife wanted to do was tease him mercilessly.

"Not even close," Thia replied with a firm shake of her head. "I haven't even gotten to that horrid fish you made me eat."

"The fish can wait," Cain replied, his mind doing summersaults as he tried to reconcile himself to this odd couple before him. "But I don't think the Queen will."

DG sighed as she got up and gave a longing glance toward the chocolate cake on the table. Oh well, it could wait until she saved the world again ... couldn't it? After all, it wasn't like _her_ Cain would forbid her consumption of chocolate. She wasn't even pregnant.

---

The Queen was less than impressed with the arrival of their newest guest. It seemed far too much like Thia wasn't planning on leaving any time soon, and now she had her husband to back up her outrageous demands about things like the Labyrinth, food supplies, and the like.

Wyatt saw the look on Nesa's face and marveled for a moment at how similar it was to the look his mother-in-law gave Dot whenever they went to visit. He was beginning to think their strained relationship wasn't isolated to their reality.

He watched as she steamed silently and instead of waiting for her to open her mouth to lecture his wife and the two princesses of this reality, he decided it would be best to cut her off at the head. With his best courtly bow usually saved for when they were entertaining dignitaries who were masquerading as allies, he proclaimed, "Your majesty, it is truly an honor to meet you. I wish time allowed for proper introductions, but your Mr. Cain has informed us that the time to act is now."

DG and Cain raised identical eyebrows at General Cain's fluid speech. Az turned to look at Thia slightly, only to discover her trying to suppress the smirk that threatened to envelope her face. She caught Thia's eye with her own and the two shared a silent laugh: both of them knew the importance of a man who could smooth talk royalty.

Nesa barely batted an eyebrow at the speech. Instead, she inclined her head toward him, "Prince Wyatt, I do believe you are correct. Now is the time to act. My angels."

DG and Azkadellia stepped forward, Thia a half a step behind, directing them through the open French doors that led onto the balcony. "It works better if you can see something of what you're trying to do," Thia explained to DG.

"Then why aren't we on the ground?" she wondered aloud.

"Because we're not just healing Finaqua, baby sister," Az replied, her face pointed toward the moons that lit up the night sky. "We need to be close to the moons to accept their power, but we also need to be able to see the land to channel the energy into it."

"Huh?" DG looked utterly confused as Thia closed the balcony doors behind the three of them.

Thia snorted at her doppelganger's look of confusion, "Like a lightning bolt. You're taking the magick from the sky and directing it to the land. You're the catalyst. Speaking of which, Az, do you still have the Emerald?" Az nodded, pulling on a chain hidden beneath her shirt so that the Emerald lay on top of her clothing once more.

The three witches stood in a triangle formation at Thia's instruction (the Witch had never been much of one for reconstruction plans so Azkadellia was about as clueless as DG on this one) and grasped hands. As the moons rose in unison and brought light onto the balcony, the three raised their joined arms and pulled the magick from the atmosphere into their healing spell.

Green light burst forth from the balcony, a purer shade that what the Witch had wrought only scant days before. It flew out and down, like mist, covering everything on the ground, and restoring the Order and Cycle to the Zone.

Those still awake in the camps below them watched plants come back to life in awe. The mist felts like nothing they had ever experienced before, urging them and everything around them to grow and heal. It extended as far as the eye could see and beyond, bathing everything in its healing touch.

In the medical ward, a man whose mind was plagued by so many horrors, received the first night of undisturbed rest he could remember in fifteen annuals. Others, also sleeping, throughout the camps and the towns across the O.Z. experienced the same peace of mind.

And, hours later, as the moons sank on the horizon and the first sun began to grace the O.Z. with the first rays of dawn, the green retreated. In its wake, the O.Z. appeared: restored.

Back on the balcony at Finaqua, two princesses lowered their arms, silently thanking the moons and the Emerald for their help in healing the Land they so loved. The third princess wavered on the brink of exhaustion, and as the last of her magick settled into its place, she collapsed on the floor of the stone balcony, unknowing of the loving man who rushed to her side and carried her to a soft, warm bed.

* * *

A/N: More fun with your favorite people coming up ... relatively soon. ... If you review.


	15. Chapter 15

Wyatt looked down at his wife and a flood of emotion hit him. He blinked back the tears that accompanied it and tightened his grip on her small, frail body. He absolutely hated it when she collapsed from using too much magick. It made him worry about the baby's health, and her health as well.

"Ding," he ordered, knowing the goblins wouldn't be far from their mistress even though they were out of sight and hearing.

The others watched as a little head poked itself out from underneath one of the numerous couches. It was quickly followed by the rest of the little body which quickly prostrated itself in front of his master. "Oh, no, Prince-man!" he cried pitifully, causing the other two goblins to come out to join him. "Not mean to let her faint again!"

"Lady never listens to us!" Bing cried as he attempted to become one with the carpet beneath him.

"Please don't Bog us!" Ring added pleadingly.

Wyatt glared at the brothers, fully noting Ding's use of the word 'again' after he noticed Thia had fainted. "The next word out of any of your mouths better be directions to her bedroom or so help me Lurline I will not only stick you all on Bog duty with Sir Didymus, but you will be nominated to be mannequins for all the baby clothes I know the seamstresses are making." At their wide-eyed shock, Wyatt knew he had to push it one step further to get the desired reaction. His eyes narrowed dangerously at their round, green faces as he added two words, "With frill."

Cain added that threat to his arsenal as he watched his doppelganger get his desired result. The three goblins nearly fell over themselves showing him the way to the guest room Thia had been using for the past two days.

* * *

It was sometime before dawn when Adrian Zero snapped awake, well aware of the fact he was being watched by someone who may well prove to be an enemy. After the past fifteen annuals he had made a number of enemies that would prove dangerous indeed in the days and weeks to come.

He opened his eyes to find the room barely lit by the suns and moons, but it was enough light to see the silhouette of a woman standing a few feet from the foot of the bed.

He didn't say anything as he shifted on the bed, letting whoever it was watching him know that he was awake and aware of their presence.

With the quiet rustling of cotton fabric, and the barely heard pad of well-worn boots, the woman approached the bed more fully. A moonbeam fell across her face and Zero thought that he should recognize the jaw, and nose, but they looked a little softer than he remembered and the eyes were different.

At long last, however, she spoke and put all questions about identity to rest, "I was told you wanted to confess to a Priestess."

Cain. That's who she looked like: one of Cain's sisters. The youngest one -- what was her name? -- was a Priestess of Lurline. This must be her. She was certainly wearing the Priestess's ceremonial robe over her careworn clothes.

He nodded silently, motioning for her to take one of the chairs near the bed to sit.

"Are you certain you want to confess?" she asked, her voice harsh and brokering no argument. "Many people want your head on a platter as it is."

His tortured gaze met hers as he replied with a raspy voice, "I destroyed many families -- including yours. And I killed too many men to count or remember. I'd want my head on a platter, too. But I still want to confess my crimes."

She raised the hood on her robe so that it covered her head and face, letting herself fall into the role of Priestess she knew so well. "The Great Mother forgives all her Children who ask for forgiveness," she recited the rites. "Do you believe that she will forgive you?"

"Yes," Zero answered in the manner required of him by the rites.

"Do you come of your own free will to seek her benediction?"

"Yes."

"When was the last time you sought benediction?"

"Sixteen annuals ago."

"Tell me of your sins, my son, and through me let the Great Mother hear and pass judgment and grant forgiveness to your soul."

"Fifteen annuals ago I fell prey to love and was blinded," he began to recount his side of the story that spanned fifteen annuals and so much death and destruction. Jael listened patiently as he attempted to tell her of every sin he could remember during those fifteen years.

By the time the suns had both risen and Lya had arrived with breakfast, Zero was halfway through the third annual's list of crimes and misdeeds.

The moment Lya walked in the door, however, he stopped talking and didn't say a word again until she had left, leaving a tray of oatmeal and a pitcher of water in her wake.

Jael pushed back the hood on her robe so that she could see the tray more clearly. The idea of hot food was too good to pass up and the pair ate in silence until the oatmeal was gone. The silence was partially for the benefit of the ceremony they were enacting, and partially because neither of them knew quite what to say in the middle of Zero's recollection of the past fifteen annuals' sins.

As soon as the last bite was in his stomach, Zero put his bowl back on the tray and waited patiently for Jael to put her hood back on. He couldn't tell her if it wasn't covering her face. It's in the rules.

"Continue, my son, the Great Mother is listening," Jael said, motioning for Zero to continue talking.

He opened his mouth with a sigh, knowing things were just going to get worse and worse as he went on with his list of sins.

* * *

Wyatt was putting Thia down on the bed when she began to stir. "Wyatt," she whispered, her eyes remaining closed as her body sought out his warmth.

"I'm right here, sweetheart," he replied just as softly, one of his hands smoothing itself over her cheek.

"Hmm," she turned her face into his touch, "Did it work?"

"Yeah," he replied with a small smile, "It worked."

She reached out blindly, tugging on his hand weakly as she asked, "Stay with me?"

He was struck by the vulnerability in her voice. He hadn't heard her sound that frail since ... but he didn't want to think about that. "Of course, Dot," he mumbled in reply as he kicked off his shoes and climbed into bed beside his wife, pulling the quilt his mother had made them over their bodies.

"Love you," she mumbled sleepily as she snuggled further into his warmth.

"Love you, too, Dot," Wyatt replied, one hand coming up to stroke her hair as her breathing evened out again and she fell into a deep, recuperative sleep. They could talk about Ding's use of the word "again" when they woke up.

The three goblins watched their master and mistress fall into a deep slumber before they all decided that it would be a great deal more fun to watch the proceedings in the other room, rather than watching two humans sleep. The Prince-man would keep their Princess safe, anyway. He was really good at that. Better than them sometimes.

* * *

DG focused on Az as soon as Thia's husband came in and rushed off to put in her bed after she fainted. Despite looking a bit nauseous after the amount of magick the three of them had just expended, Az seemed none the worse for wear.

"Az, are you okay?" she asked as they sat down next to each other on one of the numerous sofas. (it happened to be directly across from the one that the goblins had been hiding under).

Her sister shook her head, her eyes wide and unfocused as she tried to catch her breath and make sense of what had just happened. One of her hands went to touch her stomach, feeling the warmth that the fetus was already radiating. She would be so strong. With a snap her head turned to look at her baby sister and she asked, "Did you feel what Thia did?"

DG looked at her sister with wide, incredulous eyes, "That was only the third time I can remember using a lot of magick, Az. I still don't know what it's supposed to feel like when it's normal."

The older princess gave her a small smile, her eyes downcast for a moment before she shook her head and said, "It's not supposed to feel like that. I think Thia was channeling most of the magick through her."

At their mother's shocked gasp, DG frowned in confusion, "Is that dangerous?"

Az nodded, "It can be. I think she was trying to protect us."

"Perhaps it would have been better," the Queen said with an air of regal distain, "If she had allowed the magick to extinguish the life within you, Azkadellia."

DG's head snapped around to glare at her mother, unsure how she could have said such a thing. As calm as if she were discussing the weather, DG ordered Azkadellia and Cain from the room with a simple, "Az? Why don't you let Cain take you back to your room so you can get some sleep?"

Az opened her mouth to protest, but Cain stopped her with a hand on her arm and the miniscule shake of his head. "Come on, Princess," he said softly, "You must be exhausted after usin' all that magick."

Six beady eyes peered out of the shadows as the door closed with a soft click behind Azkadellia and Cain. This wasn't the first time they'd seen that look on their Princess's face. No, it most certainly wasn't. They only hoped that this DG princess wouldn't end up in quite so much trouble after this meeting. Their Princess Thia refused to leave her rooms for two weeks after she looked at her once-mother like that.

"I never want you to talk to Az like that again," DG told her parents. "Either of you."

"DG, you must try to understand," Nesa began, not caring for the tone her youngest was using with her.

"No, Mother," DG spat the title harshly as she rose from her seat and stalked toward them, magick sparking off her in response to her rage. "You understand this: Az is having a baby. You're going to be a grandmother -- whether you're ready for it or not --"

"You can't possibly think that thing was created out of love!" Nesa spat back, unwilling to call the little bundle of cells a human being. She refused to be cowed by her daughter's rage.

"It doesn't matter what I think!" DG shouted back, her face mere inches from her mother's. In a calmer, icier tone she added, "What matters is that Az loves that baby and I will do whatever I have to in order to make sure that both of them only feel love from their family."

Nesa raised her eyebrow gracefully as silence permeated the room. At long last Ahamo spoke and said, "And if we refuse to accept the child?"

DG's stone gaze turned to her father's rebellious one. "If you refuse to accept Az's baby as your grandchild, and if you so much as look at her with distain for keeping the baby. Hell, if you try to do anything about Adrian Zero without her approval -- and mine, then I will take the throne and crown away from you two by whatever means necessary."

She turned back to her mother, "You know I can. And you also know that without me and Az, you're too weak to rule --"

"I can still rule this country," Nesa protested weakly.

"Then why weren't you out on that balcony with us?" DG shot back venomously. "Why did the restoration fall to Az and me? Why do the Resistance fighters look to me to lead them?" She shook her head as it all became clear. "You're a puppet, Mother," she spat out. "And you'll do what your told or I'll remove you from power just like the Witch did twelve annuals ago." With that she turned on her heel and unconsciously glided toward the door, her entire posture radiating power.

"Then your end will be the same as the Witch's," Nesa predicted forebodingly as she reached the door.

DG stopped near the door and shook her head. In a very resigned manner she turned to look back at her parents as she softly told them, "No, it won't. Because I have the army, and the people, and the magick. And I have the right."

The three pairs of goblin eyes watched her storm majestically out of the room before turning to look at the dethroned queen and her consort. ... They didn't think this realty was going to have very much luck keeping the family together, either.

* * *

Cain and Azkadellia walked toward her quarters in silence. For her, it was good to be away from her parent's judgmental eyes, while for him it was worrisome to be so far away from DG when she clearly was about to tell her parents off for their behavior toward her sister. That was something he loved about the younger princess: she had no qualms about standing up for those she loved.

Wait. Loved? Since when had that started? He didn't love her ... did he?

Once at Az's rooms, she timidly asked him if he would mind sitting with her for a few minutes. He accepted happily, unsure he wanted to be alone with his thoughts either.

The two sat in compatible silence for a spell as they waited for DG to come bursting through the door. However, it didn't take too long for the silence to become too much for Azkadellia to handle.

In a small voice Cain had to strain to hear, she said, "I'm so sorry, Mr. Cain."

He turned to look at her with a slight crease in his forehead from a frown. "For what?"

She looked down at her hands, unable to look him in the eye as she confessed her sin against him. Her hands clenched and unclenched around the fabric of her dress as she spoke haltingly, "When ... when Zero reported that your ... safe house had been found ... the Witch wanted to torture you in the dungeon. ... Or send you over to the Otherside. ... It was ... my idea ... to put you in the Suit."

Cain's heart leapt up to his throat as she spoke. How was he supposed to respond to that? He knew she expected him to yell, and probably leave in a huff ... but it wasn't really her fault. Was it?

It wasn't until he heard her start to sniffle as she bit back sobs that he realized what his answer should be and ought to be. What his answer was.

He stood and knelt before the princess, tilting her face up so that she could see the sincerity in his eyes when he wiped away her tears as he used to do for Jeb. "It's not your fault, Az. You handled things a lot better than most other people would've."

She sniffled some more and he handed her his handkerchief with a sad smile. "I reckon you probably saved my life by askin' her to put me a Suit instead of the dungeon."

Her eyes widened as she realized what he was trying to say. "But you had to watch your family get taken from you over and over."

A raised eyebrow answered her, "And you had to live alone in fear with only a psychopathic warmonger for company. I'd say we're even."

She didn't reply as he took a seat on the sofa closest to her, as if to ward off bad thoughts. Tears still overflowed from her eyes, but they were fewer and farther between than they had been minutes before. They just sat in silence aside from Az's intermediate sniffling.

As her tears came under control, and the silence remained light and wonderfully cleansing Az wasn't exactly thinking when she dryly commented, "No wonder my sister's in love with you."

His head snapped around to give her a questioning look, "What?"

The princess looked back at him like a deer caught in the headlights. For a moment he marveled at the family resemblance between the two sisters until her voice interrupted his thoughts. "I don't think I was supposed to tell you that," Az squeaked out, looking for all the earth like she wanted to run away from facing the Tin Man before her.

* * *

A/N: Like I said: Reviews have benefits for you ... and sometimes the characters, as well. Next chapter, before anyone asks, will involve a trip to the Labryinth. No, I was not hinting at any Az/Cain action going on. And, yes, you will have to wait until next weeked in order to read more. I have midterms to focus on.


	16. Chapter 16

"Must you always have your way, Nesa?" Ahamo asked his wife with a displeased frown on his face. It was certainly one thing to have a woman from another reality bickering with his wife, but when their own daughters didn't see eye to eye with her ... why did she have to refuse to listen to them.

Nesa sighed slightly as she brushed her hair out at her vanity. "I don't think I was wrong, Ahamo. Do you remember what a child from that sort of union means."

"_Yes_, I remember," he snapped. "My memory didn't completely disappear while I was in the Realm of the Unwanted, Nesa. And I also know what that baby means to Azkadellia. _Our_ baby."

"What do you want me to do?" Nesa snarled back at her husband. "I will not condone that _thing_ sitting on my throne one day." Her eyes blazed as she glared at him, "I _cannot_."

Ahamo's eyes grew sad as he shook his head slightly. With a grave voice he told her, "I'm not sure you're the same woman that I married, Nesa. On the Otherside, people don't blame the child for resulting from rape." His voice was thick with emotion as he started walking toward the door. Halfway there, he turned back to look at his estranged wife and added, "I'm not sure I want to work on this marriage if you're gonna punish our grandchild for something they couldn't control."

Without waiting for a response from the stunned woman at the vanity, Ahamo turned on his heel and left the shared rooms to seek a quiet place to think.

Nesa stared long and hard at the spot where her husband had disappeared through the doors. She wondered which side would win out: The Queen in her, ordering that Azkadellia's illegitimate child could never sit upon the throne of the O.Z. and should be terminated; or the mother in her, thrilled by the idea of a baby in the house again, to spoil and cherish. Something good, come out of all the darkness and evil that prevailed over the previous fifteen annuals.

---

Lena Paisley, master healer, stood in the doorway to the room that housed her two chronic patients for nearly the past five annuals. Tears came to her eyes as she thought about how deteriorated the two were. It would only be a matter of time before their Goblin King died, leaving the Labyrinth without a Keeper. If that were to happen ... there was no telling what would happen.

King Jareth shuddered violently in his deep coma, causing Lena's tears to spill from her dark eyes. Another child was wished away. Another runner that would have to see Captain Squee instead of the king. Another babe for the castle nurseries.

As the troupe of goblins moved through the Mists in order to retrieve the child, Lena felt the foundation of the castle groan a little. Time was drawing short. If something didn't happen to tip the balance soon, their king, his mistress, and their entire world lay in jeopardy.

She prayed fervently to Lurline that all would turn out well, though in her heart she held little hope that her king would recover and rule them properly once more.

When Lena turned around, she found the guard, Coriander, watching her with a look of despondency she knew was mirrored in her own face. Together the pair walked toward the throne room to keep the wished away child entertained while Squee handled the runner. For a moment, they tried to forget about the impending doom of their home ... but the knowledge remained in the forefront of their minds that if the Labyrinth's Keeper fell without an heir, then their world would fall into chaos.

---

While sleep, that morning, came quite easily for DG, it eluded Cain as much as it had before he'd gone into his day at the Tin Man Academy in Central City. Of course, back then he had thrown up his dinner the night before, as well. This time, his stomach was a deal stronger and he knew that after he woke up the princesses at noon that he wouldn't be subjected to the berating and abuse of a middle-aged Tin Man who seemed to all new cadets to have a god complex.

Nope. When he woke up, he'd just have to be subjected to spending time with a princess that he was just informed was in love with him.

With a growl he punched his pillow and flopped over on the bed. It was one damn thing to come face to face with another _reality_ in which he was married to DG, but it was entirely different to have Azkadellia _tell_ him that her little sister is in love with him!

Why, cruel world? _Why_?

He was just beginning to understand the letters this "General" Cain had written to him - and his own feelings for the younger princess - but now he'd be analyzing and second guessing every single time he touched her or she touched him. Every time she bloody _looked_ at him was going to be torment.

See? This was why it was a bad idea to add in emotions during a time of war! They still had to go do what they could to save the Labyrinth. ... _After_ lunch, of course. The Queen didn't want to be parted from her daughters before it was absolutely necessary.

"Mr. Cain?" a female voice called softly from the other side of his door. He silently raised his eyes to the ceiling, wondering _why_ DG had to be the one to come and get him. Why couldn't it have been Jeb? Or Glitch? Or even that other version of himself that was married to Thia? Why couldn't it have been anyone but DG?

He got out of bed and put his hat back on his head with one hand while the other put his gun back in its holster on his waist.

"What is it, kid?" he asked as he opened the door to the hallway.

She looked paler than usual as she stood in the morning light, and this was reinforced when she said softly, "I feel funny."

He stepped into the hallway beside her, shutting the door to his room in a fluid movement, "Funny how?" A concerned frown creased his forehead as he took in her looks. His princess didn't look like she normally did, and the changes weren't for the better.

DG looked at the wall behind Cain as she tried to put the feeling into words. "Like ... I'm standing on an old bridge that's about to give out in the middle of a windstorm."

He felt the bottom drop out of his stomach at her words, "That can't be good."

Closing the door to his room behind him, Cain took DG's arm in his and started to lead her down the hallway toward Thia's room. "Thia will know what to do."

DG seemed to cling to him as he ushered her down the hall., however, until they nearly ran into Azkadellia and Glitch in the hall that they realized it might be something more than DG having a bad reaction to one of the spells they'd performed.

It might be more serious than they knew how to handle.

By the time the four arrived at the door to the royal couple's room, Azkadellia looked like she was about to throw up what little breakfast she had eaten before retiring to sleep, and DG was not very far behind her. Before Cain could rap sharply on the door, it opened to reveal a determined (and slightly frightened) General Wyatt Cain on the other side, one of his arms holding his wife's hand possessively.

Thia took one look at the sisters in front of her and uttered a curse under her breath before releasing her husband's hand, "Go get Adrian -- he's in the infirmary."

The General moved with purpose, trusting his wife's judgment on the matter without question -- he'd have time for questions later, now they needed action. However, he was only a few steps into the hallway when the voice of his doppelganger halted his steps:

"Why the hell do you need that son of a bitch here with us?" his spat with venom that would have shocked the General if he hadn't already been informed of the bad blood between the two men.

General Cain turned sharply on his heel and addressed the Tin Man in a voice that matched his actions in force and tone precisely, "Because he knows more that you give him credit for." He nodded toward Azkadellia, "And if she's the one chosen by the Labyrinth to _stay_ she'll need _him_ there, too."

The unmoving glare that was Cain's response was altered by the soft voice of Thia as she explained, "The Labyrinth's not accustomed to breaking up loving families, Mr. Cain." She turned to her husband with a nod, "He'll be needed. Meet us at the portal."

"_Loving families_?" Cain asked as the General turned to leave again, this time not stopping at the anger in his counterpart's voice.

Thia's gaze was incredulous as she said, "How the hell could you have worked for the Mystic Man and long as you did without knowing _anything_ about magick?"

"What the hell does magick have to do with this?" Cain snarled, his grip tightening around the younger princess who was focused too much on trying not to throw up to pay too much attention to their words.

The alternate version of said princess opened her mouth to reply, but Glitch got there first. "Of course!" he said gleefully, "The safeguards!"

At Cain's confused and angry glare the headcase continued, his eyes bouncing back and forth as he remembered something the Witch had tried to make him forget; "Azka-D said that her baby had magick already. That means that she had to love the father. The magick knows and it won't pass on to a baby without love."

"To safeguard against rapes with the sole purpose of powerful offspring," Az whispered, remembering her lessons. One of her hands went to her stomach as she processed the meaning of her words, "Oh sweet Lurline, she knew." Her tearful, bloodshot eyes found Thia's as she explained in a hoarse whisper, "She let me fall in love with him. She wanted my baby."

Thia left the doorway, closing the door behind her, and approached the elder princess. She put a comforting hand on her arm as she reminded her, "She didn't get your baby, Az. No one will hurt your baby." Az looked in her eyes and felt a small measure of comfort at her words.

"Now let's go. The portal's four floors beneath us," Thia said, motioning for them to follow her down the hallway and toward the stairs.

---

General Cain made his way quickly through the castle and toward the infirmary that had been set up. He knew it would solve a lot of issues that he looked exactly like one of the men in charge, but a part of him was worried about what condition he'd find this version of Adrian Zero in. From what his wife had told him -- hell, he wasn't sure he'd be able to recognize the man he knew.

He had no idea what was going on with this reality, though. Despite what he'd been told by Dot ... this world was so different from their own, he wasn't sure how much help either of them would end up being in the long run. What they really needed to do was make sure that the monarchies wouldn't collapse and then go back home. What more could the Metatron want from them?

When he arrived at the infirmary, he could hear the sounds of ritualistic talk inside. His sister, Jael, was apparently giving benediction to the defeated pet general of the Witch. He waited for a moment, recognizing the closing lines that needed to be said in order to bring peace to the sinner.

After a while he was sure his sister had left the room and he entered slowly, making sure to make just enough noise so that Zero would know he was there.

"Come to finish the job, Cain?" the dejected man on the bed asked without turning around to look at the man come to see him.

The General raised his eyebrow -- apparently his wife had left out a few details about the animosity between the two men. "Why would I do that when the Princess needs you, Zero?" he asked, his voice gruff and no-nonsense. He hoped it would break this version of his friend out of his slump.

"The Princess doesn't need me," he responded, his body now tense at the thought that had been lodged in his brain that perhaps Azkadellia was in danger.

Wyatt approached the bed quietly and leaned over to whisper next to the other's ear, "Then why am I here?"

Zero finally turned to look at the man standing at the far side of his bed. His eyes flashed with something resembling acceptance as he asked, "What's wrong?"

Wyatt gave him a hard look, not wanting to waste time explaining, "She needs you. Get up. We leave now and she'll explain when we get there."

The dejected man turned away from him again, "Let someone else help her."

"No one else can help her," he snapped roughly.

"Why _not_?" Zero demanded.

"Because no one else is _you_!" General Cain barked as if he was explaining something to a dense, newly recruited palace guard. One who apparently had a family history of drinking some of the most questionable goblin ale in existence. Cain took in a deep breath through his nose and let it out again before adding, "She doesn't need anyone else, Zero. She needs _you_."

"Why didn't you say that in the first place?" Adrian Zero groused as he swung his legs off the bed and slipped back on his boots. Within a few seconds he was warily following Cain out of the infirmary and back toward the portal where Thia had promised to meet them.

Zero couldn't help but wonder, though, why exactly Wyatt Cain was helping him without a fuss. He hadn't even threatened his safety this time. Odd, considering what had happened.

---

Az's insides felt like they were being pulled in five different directions, and her head was swimming through the noise she knew that no one else could hear. A multitude of voices were pleading for her for things she couldn't give them.

Her feet took her where Ambrose was urging, and she couldn't find it in her to care where Thia was taking them, as long as it stopped her from feeling like the ground was about to give out beneath her.

It took time, but after long minutes that felt like hours they finally stopped moving and Az felt Thia work some magick she wasn't precisely sure she should be doing. She was opening what felt like a portal, in a place Az had no knowledge of a link being.

However, when the portal opened and became stable, Az felt her stomach ease off a bit, and the voices in her head grow quiet enough so that she could take in her surroundings. They were in one of the many galleries that were scattered throughout Finaqua -- particularly, one that hadn't been in use as long as Az could remember. There were portraits of ancestors she didn't know she had lining the walls that should have shown signs of neglect. Apparently, when DG had brought Finaqua back, she hadn't brought back the magnitude of dust.

"Where are we?" Az asked with a hint of awe in her voice. DG's eyes flickered to her sister, thankful she wasn't the only one curious on that account.

Thia's eyes held a measure of awe in them that reminded Cain of DG. "This is a duplicate of the line of succession for the Goblin Throne. Every portrait you see here was drawn of a prince or princess of the O.Z. who became Goblin and ruled over the Labyrinth." She pointed toward the left end of the line, "Back there is King Alonzo the Great. He was the first male to rule from the House of Gale."

DG furrowed her brow, "But I thought that men couldn't rule?" she questioned, her eyes seeking out Cain, as if he were an expert on the subject.

He leaned a bit closer to the princess, who's equilibrium had been restored to the same tentative balance as her sister's, "It's different for the Labyrinth."

The sounds of approaching boots drew attention away from the faces lining the walls. Thia let out the breath she was holding at the sight of not only her husband, but the man trailing him. "Good," she nodded with a tense smile, "We can go."

Zero caught sight of the mirror image of the man he was following, not to mention the two versions of the younger princess and stopped in confusion and horror. "What the hell is going on here?"

Az, who could feel the urgency of their continued movement, intervened before an argument could start. "We'll explain on the way, Adrian," her usually strong, affirmative voice held a quiver of fear in it, "But right now we have to keep moving."

DG turned to Glitch, "Make sure Jeb knows where we are, Glitch. And help him keep an eye on things."

"We won't be gone long," Thia added, motioning for DG and Cain to step through the portal she had opened between two portraits. Zero rushed to Azkadellia's side, helping to support her while Glitch nodded and let go of the older princess.

"I'll do my best," the headcase affirmed. "If I can remember."

Thia smiled softly. "You'll remember, Glitch," she whispered. He gave her a questioning look so she added, "You never forgot any of the really important things in the first place."

"Thanks, T," he replied with a grin. "I'll tell Jeb. And I'll keep the Queen and Ahamo busy until you get back, right?" At Thia's nod he turned to Azkadellia again and said, "Keep safe, Princess."

"I'll try," she whispered, unsure she could speak any louder if she wanted to. The voices were starting to come back again. She tugged on Zero's arm, "Let's go."

Moments later Glitch was left alone in the dark corner of the Finaqua, staring at a space on the wall that had previously held a white light guiding the way to the Underground. He wondered what he was doing there in the first place, and where everyone had gone off to.

* * *

A/N: Dun, dun, dun, dun! Will Glitch remember in time? Will Nesa freak out? Will Zero want to be a father? All these questions and more will be answered next time on (pause for dramatic music) "Similar Yet Different"!


	17. Chapter 17

A/N; TADA!!! I told you I'd update by tomorrow, but I got done EARLY! Enjoy.

* * *

The circular room the six of them had been deposited into was barren of life, and appeared to not have been cleaned in many years. Dust bunnies and cobwebs adorned the once majestic surroundings, giving the room the feeling of belonging to a magickal Ms. Havisham.

DG felt her equilibrium return as she looked around the room, her hands still tightly grasping Cain's arm as if afraid that he might disappear if she didn't keep hold. She turned her head to look at her sister to find her resting her head on Zero's shoulder, taking more comfort from the man than their changed surroundings.

It was Thia's gasp that broke both princesses out of their revelry. "Wyatt," she moaned as she pointed toward the raised dais in the back of the room, "Uncle's throne!"

The General, and the other four, turned to look at the throne, only to find it seemed less ... _real_ than it should have. DG marveled for a moment in the rustic, majestic beauty of the throne -- an aspect that Jim Henson had barely captured in the movie -- before noticing that it seemed as if it was splitting in two.

"Shit," the General swore under his breath, running a hand through his hair as he took in the magnitude of the situation. Throne made out of solid granite splitting in two? Bad sign. Very bad sign.

"Where do those stairs lead to?" Zero asked curiously, noting only one stairwell leading out of the room.

Thia glanced at them before returning her gaze to the throne before her. "The heart of the Labyrinth. Azkadellia and DG must go up there and speak with the Labyrinth. It's the only way," her own heart was dejected as she spoke, knowing that she couldn't help them this time, and neither could Mr. Cain or Zero.

"Well then," Cain said, motioning for them to start moving, "Let's go."

Wyatt shook his head at his counterpart, "_We_ can't. They have to go alone."

Cain opened his mouth to start arguing with his doppelganger, but DG's hand on his arm stopped him before it even started. "It's the way it's done, Cain. And that's the way we have to do it."

He turned to her, ready to argue with her himself, but when he saw the resolution in her gaze, his resolve fell. "Watch your back, kid."

She gave him a slight smile in return. "You worry too much, Cain," she said as she gave him a hug.

"And you don't worry half as much as you should," he retorted with a small smile, "I've gotta worry for the both of us."

At the same time Az was having a moment with Adrian. He reached a hand out to trace her lips that he knew so well, reveling in the love he found reflected in her deep brown eyes.

"I'll just be gone for a moment," Az whispered, her lips kissing his finger as it stayed on her lower lip. "Wait for me here?"

"Always," he replied, his earnest look relaying how little he cared to be parted from her.

She took hold of the hand that was resting on her waist and drew it so that it was over her stomach, "We have a lot to tell you when we get back, Adrian."

"We?" he whispered, his eyes widening as he took in the full meaning of her words. Instinctually his hand flexed over the area of her stomach where his child was growing. A slow smile formed as he repeated, "We," with a nod that let Az know he'd be happily waiting for her to return to the throne room, no matter what the result might be.

"Az?" DG called in a soft tone, not wanting to ruin the somber atmosphere of the throne room.

The elder princess turned to her sister and her offered hand. With one last look back at the man she had chosen to dedicate her life to, she grasped DG's hand and together they turned to walk up the stairwell that led to the heart of the Labyrinth. Even after they turned the corner, the four left inside the throne room could see the faint glow of light from their joined powers.

What they didn't notice, and perhaps should have, was the number of little eyes peering out at them from the shadows. Eyes that didn't know why they were there, but did know that them being there was important. It took only a few moments of whispered ideas before two sets of eyes disappeared down the hall to go alert the one person they knew should know of the intruders. The Captain of the Palace Guard.

* * *

Az and DG walked up the stairs without halting, if not with a little fear tinting their steps with trepidation. One thought kept on repeating through both of their minds, and that was the voice that was urging their steps closer and closer to their destination. There was a sense of familiarity about the call they were answering: a woman's voice was deep in despair and begging for help, just as the young girl had begged for help in that cave all those annuals before ... but this time ... _this_ time Azkadellia could feel the sincerity of the woman calling as she cried out - not in fear - but in _pain_. As if part of her was dying and there was nothing she could do anymore.

The sisters came to a doorway that led into a room in which there was no up and down, no sense of gravity or right. There were stairs and landings and doorways going every which way imaginable. A shiver of anticipation ran down DG's spine as, together, they stepped over the threshold from the corridor and into the stair chamber.

As soon as they stepped onto that first landing, a hum filled the air and DG grabbed tighter to Az's hand as muscle reflex took over. This time she wouldn't let go.

A gentle wind picked up - from where, one cannot say. Az's other arm came around to grasp onto DG's arm as dark tresses swam around their faces.

DG's eyes widened as she looked at the stairs to her left and saw the stone bend and shape itself into the form of a beautiful woman. Or, at least, it would have been beautiful if not for the tears and holes in her stone garments, and the sense that this specter was a truer version of Ms. Havisham than even Dickens had told tale of.

The avatar stretched out her hand to the sisters, as if she was moving to touch them. A sad smile appeared on her face before she spoke, her eyes locked with Azkadellia's. The voice that came from that mouth, however, was not the voice of one, but many in unison, "We've been calling, daughter. For so long. Why has it taken so long for you to answer?"

The princess in question turned her head away to look down as tears filled her eyes. It was DG, instead, who answered the question. "It was my fault," her voice broke as she confessed her sins. The avatar turned to her, the arm that had been stretched out, falling again to her side. "I let go and Az ..." the tears she'd been holding back started to spill out of her brilliant blue eyes.

"My daughters," the voice of many spoke again, addressing both princesses, "Life is about making mistakes." She shook her head slowly to emphasize her point, "Those who love you, will not blame you for making the mistakes of children."

She again held her hand out to Azkadellia, "But now you are women and must take steps to right the wrongs you have done." Az looked up into the eyes of the stone avatar, "We are in need of your light to heal us and make us whole once more." The Labyrinth's head turned slightly toward DG, "Just as soon you will be called upon to right your own wrongs and use your magick to restore balance to the Outer Zone."

A stretch of silence followed, during which the avatar didn't lower her hand, nor her gaze, from Azkadellia. She made no move toward either of the princesses, all the while only silently asking that they take the first step and help her heal.

At long last Az released DG's arm, her head whipping around to look at her younger sister. With a small smile, and no words she disentangled her other hand from her sister's and turned to walk confidently toward the avatar of a land in desperate need of peace.

DG felt her throat constrict, and she wanted to cry out to her sister that she was scared, but no sound would escape. The serene look on Azkadellia's face spoke of an inner peace and courage that DG wasn't sure she had anymore.

Then it seemed like Azkadellia's voice was in her head and she was saying, "_Don't fear it, DG. Balance must be kept. Everything will be all right. And remember, no matter what, I'll always love you and I'll always be your sister._"

She felt a sense of calm wash over her with the words ringing through her mind. The princess stepped back slightly as Azkadellia's hand fell into the avatar's comforting grasp. Everything _would_ be all right. She just knew it.

* * *

The two little goblins raced down the hall toward the infirmary, knowing that the Captain liked to visit with the King-man around this time. ... Not that they really understood much why she did. He never talked back to her at all. Nope. He just laid there. Asleep.

Actually, it was a good way to keep an eye on the King-man. He was always in the same spot, so he couldn't jump out and catch them plucking out Rosaline's feathers, or kicking Jasmine into the moat, or running from Rosalinda and her sharp beak.

They didn't so much care for that last one.

"What have I told you about running in here?" Lena scolded the goblins as they tried to pass by her and speak to the woman standing at the foot of the king's bed.

The two goblins stopped dead at her feet. One of them shifted nervously, his hand coming up to scratch his greasy head as he tried to remember what she had told them. "Uhh ... Don't?"

"That's right," Lena replied through clenched teeth. "Now what's so important that you're runnin' around like there's a fire on your toes?"

Two sets of wide, frightened eyes looked down at their toes to make sure that they were, indeed, fire free. Once the safety of their limbs had been verified, the second goblin spoke, "Intruders in the throne room! Two of 'em went into the stair room!"

Coriander's head shot around at that news, her eyes flashing as she practically shouted, "_What_?!" It was a tone of voice the little goblins remembered well from when the Lady of the Labyrinth had first visited them and reached the Goblin City. Their king had not been pleased.

The hobgoblin rose gracefully to her feet, her very air commanding respect. "Keep watch, Healer," she ordered Lena, knowing she would keep the king and his bond mate safe. Without turning to look at the little goblins that came up to her knees she called to them as she left the room, "Ink, go alert Captain Squee and General Dugan. Blot, you're with me."

* * *

Tears filled Thia's eyes as she took in the neglect that the throne room was in. A room she'd spent many days in as a child, laughing and playing with the goblins and whatever wished away there was. She turned to look into the pit in the center of the room and the tears pushed past her defenses, spilling down her face pitifully as she looked at the disrepair covering the spot in which she had held Jeb as he cried over the actions of his birth mother.

She started to hiccup as she cried, her lungs grasping for air that Wyatt knew she shouldn't be having a problem getting. He recognized what was happening to his wife, and decided to stop it before the panic attack took full control over her.

"Dot," Wyatt's "General voice" ordered his wife as he grabbed her arm with just enough pressure to get her attention. She looked up at him through her tears, sniffling as he ordered, "Pull yourself together!"

Visibly (and amazingly to the Tin Man) Thia started to try to follow her husband's demand. She took in deep breaths through her nose and let them out through her mouth in the same manner that she had practiced with Az when she'd been pregnant with Peanut.

Once she had calmed down enough that she wasn't hyperventilating an tears were no longer flowing down her red blotched cheeks, Zero decided that enough was enough and it was far past time for someone to be answering the questions that were swarming around in his mind.

"What the _hell_ is going on here?" he asked, his voice thick with agitation and confusion as he looked between the two Cain men: one standing near the base of the stairs leading toward the heart of the Labyrinth, the other standing next to his wife at the base of the throne.

Locking eyes with the pregnant woman who looked way too much like Princess DG, he almost yelled, "Who the hell are you people?"

That, more than her husband's commands, brought Thia out of her despair and back to the situation at hand. She left the safety and security of her husband's arms and stalked over to the confused former General a few yards away.

"_We_," she punctuated her words with a poke to his chest that caused him to take a step back away from her unforgiving forefinger, "are _not_ your lackeys, Adrian. And _we_ are from another reality where _you_ don't have a stick up your ass!"

Try as they might, neither Wyatt could suppress the smirk that that threatened to appear on their faces at Thia's actions and the look of utter shock on Zero's face.

"Then why are you _here_?" he growled back, his voice rising to match hers as he made a fruitless grab for the hand that kept poking him as he backed up against the stone wall.

"To make sure none of you screw anything else up!" she shouted. If the situation had been a little less dire, the look on her face would have been humorous. As it was, Adrian's eyes widened as she spun on her heel and stormed to the middle of the pit in the center of the room.

"Believe me," she said, her voice much calmer as she spoke to the two men at her back, her head downcast as she looked at the dusty footprints that littered the stone floor, "I'd much rather be home with my sister and her family, celebrating the birth of her second baby girl."

Her head came up to meet her husband's questioning gaze as she continued to speak, "I'd rather be home, spending time with my step-son before he has to go off to school. I'd rather be playing practical jokes on Uncle Jareth with Sarah. I'd rather be out riding with Coriander and looking over the peach orchards --"

"Perhaps, you'd better start from the beginning," a new yet familiar voice spoke from the doorway that led to the main area of the castle.

Thia turned to look at the hobgoblin woman who had helped raise her into the woman that she was. With another sniffle, she nodded, motioning that it was all right for the woman and two men behind her to enter. She opened her mouth to start her tale when the groaning started.

The castle seemed to be moving, coming back to life after a long dormant period; it shook itself off of the dust and decay that had formed over the once-shining stones. The three goblin citizens who had done all they could in the past five annuals to preserve their kingdom and their king's throne watched in amazement as the throne and the castle seemed to regain their very essence. The crack that had been predominant down the seat of the granite throne healed itself, until all that was left to remember it by, was a small hairline fracture running from front to back.

Devon Dugan whipped his head from staring at the castle, to the young woman who stood alone in the middle of the room. He ignored the three men scattered near the walls, knowing that they would answer to her first. "What did you do?" he asked with a hint of awe and trepidation in his hard voice.

Her brilliant blue eyes were clear as her conscious as she met his gaze head on, refusing to back down, "I brought you the heir to the throne."

* * *

A/N: I hope the scene with the Labyrinth wasn't too horrible. I'm not too sure about it. And I hope you enjoyed Thia's little tirade and poking. You can thank Cat Yuy for that part. Apparently she's getting a little huffy over the absense of a certain fox and great orange beast.

Don't worry. Those of you waiting for Sir Didymus, Ludo, and Hoggle will be rewarded for the wait soon. Very soon. I promise. On pain of eternal stench.


	18. Chapter 18

Coriander, Devon, and Squee all looked at her with looks of shock and amazement. No one wanted to break the silence as the castle rejuvenated right before their eyes. The stillness hung in the air like the surprised announcement after the dust had been shaken off and the throne healed.

It was Coriander who finally broke the silence after too long spent in a staring match between all six occupants in the room over four feet in height.

"There _is_ no heir," the hobgoblin ground out as she took a few steps closer to Thia, a menacing aura surrounding her as she pointed at the pregnant woman. "Who are you, and what have you done?"

Cain watched the hobgoblin interact with the princess, just itching to jump between the two women and protect the one that looked so much like his DG. His steely blue eyes flickered to his doppelganger, expecting to see the same look in his stance, before turning back to watch the interaction. Surprisingly enough, Cain found that his counterpart looked as cool as a cucumber and was leaning back on the heels of his feet, perfectly content to let his wife take the lead with the problem.

Thia raised her eyebrow at Coriander in a manner that seemed to exude amusement and regality in the same moment. Cain couldn't help but wonder if this was the type of woman DG would have been if she had been raised in the OZ. Somehow, he doubted it.

"Your king," Thia said evenly, her tone not betraying the tears she had let wash over her face not half an hour before, "Is a member of the House of Gale. There are two Gale heirs, and I brought them to the Labyrinth so that she could choose."

Coriander hissed at what her mind knew to be lies but her heart yearned to be truths, "One of the Gale daughters is dead. Killed by the other. The living one now sits on her mother's throne, intent on bringing it to ash. Neither girl will rule here."

"No." The force of Thia's voice caused Coriander to blink. Wyatt tried to hold back the smile that was threatening to overwhelm his face at the look of utter shock on the hobgoblin's green tinged skin. She must have been very used to having her orders followed in the past five annuals. And this was her first meeting with Thia.

Coriander raised her eyebrows in unison with the two goblins behind her. "No?" Devon asked, his voice laced with the incredulity that comes from not having been questioned in annuals. "The younger princess is alive, or no the elder princess did not usurp her mother's throne?"

Thia raised her head so that her chin jutted out defiantly as she replied, "The younger princess did die, but she was given second life. The elder princess is guilty of nothing but being a child used by the Wicked Witch of the South."

The hobgoblin female sucked in a breath of surprise at the news, while the two males widened their eyes in shock as they looked between their visitors and the stairwell that led to the Heart of the Labyrinth.

Before the hobgoblin could open her mouth to snarl back a reply, Thia held up one of her dainty hands to stop her. After taking a deep breath she started speaking again, "I know you have very little reason to trust us or even want us here." Her hand dropped as she locked eyes with the woman who looked so much like the one who'd raised her, "I swear," her voice remained as steady as her gaze, "On the breath of my children that I mean no harm to your kingdom, or your king. The choice of heir to the Labyrinth throne remains in the hands of the Labyrinth. As it always has. Nothing I do could ever influence her choice."

Coriander still looked ready to claw Thia to shreds, but the soothing hand of Squee on her arm halted whatever words the irate goblin might have said. "I believe her," her husband said. "How else could she stand in the Pit of Truth and speak?"

The hobgoblin stiffly nodded at long last, the action removing a level of tension in the room that had the hair on the back of Zero's neck standing on end. The haggard ex-general looked entreatingly at the woman standing in the pit. "_Now_ will you tell me what the hell is going on?" he practically begged as he slid to sit against the wall.

Thia nodded again, motioning for all of them to take seats around the room. Cain chose to lean against the wall on the side of the entrance to the stairwell, wanting to be close at hand in case DG needed him. Wyatt took a few steps forward and tugged on his wife's arm so that she would sit with him on the edge of the pit, across from the three strangers who looked like friends.

"You see," Thia started, stopping again with a shake of her head. "It's like this ..." she stopped again, unsure how to actually put what was going on into words. Last time an explanation had been needed, Raw had just taken one from her mind. She sighed and tried again, "What happened was --"

"What my very articulate wife is trying to say is that we're from an alternate reality," Wyatt said, his voice and face very poorly hiding his amusement. His wife glared at him half heartedly but he continued past the shock evident on more than one face.

"Lurline brought us here because she feels that this reality needs our help." He looked down at the pregnant woman next to him, "Most specifically, her help." His emotive blue eyes met, in turn, all those staring at him in expectation, "In the world we come from, none of this ever happened. Dot and Az killed the Witch fifteen annuals ago in a dark cave, and subsequently Dot was bound to the Labyrinth and to me."

"How long have you lived in the Labyrinth?" Devon asked, curious as to the nature of this other world they were hearing about. The idea wasn't foreign to the Goblin Realm, but meeting a couple from another reality wasn't exactly something that happened every day.

Thia looked down at where her husband's hand dwarfed her own as they lay clasped on her leg. "Since right after Sarah became the Lady of the Labyrinth, fifteen annuals ago."

The conversation would have continued to further explanation, but DG and Az chose that exact moment to make their reappearance. DG looked a little nervous around the eyes, but the real change in looks that the Ozarians could see was the faint glow that covered Azkadellia from head to toe.

As if a switch was flipped, the small multitude of goblins hiding in the shadows emerged and bowed low on the ground in front of Az, Coriander, Squee, and Devon following suit as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

"Your highness," Devon said, looking up at her with a look of awe that was quite hard to miss. He looked down again, not waiting for a verbal response. "Thank you," his whisper was so heartfelt that Az had to look away.

Her brown eyes flickered around the room, taking in the goblins that had congregated there in hopes of once again seeing their monarch on his throne. She took a step toward it, feeling utterly out of place in the simple dress that had come from one of the female Resistance fighters.

An arm came to wrap around her waspish waist, strong fingers pulling her close to a hard, warm body. She felt her feet move a few steps closer to the man she'd given her heart to annuals before. A warm smile crossed her face briefly as she met the eyes of the man who'd haunted her dreams for so long. A shiver ran through her as he smiled reassuringly back, his hand squeezing her side gently before he released her to decide what it was she wished to do.

Azkadellia's gaze was again drawn to the opulent throne sitting proudly on its dais.

"The throne is yours to sit in, your highness," Coriander said, her eyes looking at the throne and their newly declared crown princess. "It has healed because of you, and it is your right."

When Azkadellia set herself down on the granite, a blinding flash of light shot out from its stone base and encompassed her. "What's going on?" she asked, a tinge of fear lacing her voice.

"Don't fight it," Thia said reassuringly to not only the crown princess, but the others in the room as well. "The castle's just getting to know you. It'll be over in a moment."

"I thought the castle already got to know her!" Zero glared at the pregnant woman, irritation clear in his voice. He did not like being left out of the loop when it came to Azkadellia's safety. _Especially_ because she was pregnant.

"That was the Labyrinth," Wyatt snapped back, not liking how the other man was addressing his wife. "Now the _castle_ is recognizing her."

The sound of hurried foot steps filled the room moments before a harried looking healer stopped in the doorway. Lena took in the scene with a quick eye, not missing a detail before her eyes settled on Coriander. "They're getting worse."

* * *

"Ambrose, have you seen DG and Az?" Nesa asked her advisor when he stepped into the room that had been converted into their headquarters. She sat with her husband and a few of the leaders of the Resistance (including the three Cain's) at the large oblong table, eating a light lunch as they planned.

"Yes," the headcase replied with a firm nod. He remembered seeing them. Then he shook his head, "No." He wasn't supposed to tell the queen that he'd seen them. Thia had asked him not to.

"Which is it?" Nesa asked again, her serene features revealing none of the irritation she felt at the non-answer. She could only guess who was responsible for that.

Glitch thought for a moment, looking at his queen and then to the rest of his "audience." Oh well, might as well make it good. He gestured confidently with his hand as he said, "Yes, I've seen them, but no, I don't know where they went."

"They went somewhere?" Jeb asked, his brow furrowing in a frown. He hadn't been able to find his father, or their guests from the other reality, either.

"They took Zero and they went into the Labyrinth," the unquestionable voice of Jael Cain cut into the conversation as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Perhaps, after fifteen annuals without a real queen, it was.

"How do you know?" Ahamo asked, sitting forward in his chair.

"Because we followed them," Amy replied. She made no attempt to hide her irritation at being so openly questioned -- even by the Prince Consort. "Jael left Zero alone after finishing his benediction and we followed them after that man who looks like our brother took Zero from the infirmary. They went to the portal that only opens to the Labyrinth."

"Why were you following them?" Nesa wondered aloud, not bothering to comment on her advisor as he took a seat at the other end of the table.

"To see where they'd go," Jael said, her eyes wide as she looked at the queen as if an innocent child who had no knowledge of why her prank went wrong and she was now in trouble.

* * *

It was official. The throne wouldn't let Azkadellia get up. This proved problematic for two reasons: one, both sisters might be needed in order to heal the Labyrinth's ailing king; and two, Az really had to pee.

Okay, that wasn't fully accurate either. Az felt like her bladder was about to explode due to the gallon of water she drank prior to the full effects of the vertigo setting in. Not to mention that now, she was fairly positive that the pea sized bundle of cells that was her baby was now pushing on her bladder. How this was possible, she didn't know. All she knew was that if she didn't get to a bathroom soon, she might very well wet herself all over her new throne.

"DG," she called to her little sister, trying to block out the feeling of the pressure between her legs. "Go with the healers and see what you can do. Thia, why don't you go with them? They may need your help."

The younger princess nodded and turned to follow Lena as Thia grinned at Az, "Spoken like a true princess. Next thing you know you'll be kissing babies and winning the nation's love."

Az glared at her half-heartedly, "At the moment I'd settle for a bathroom."

_You wish is our command,_ a voice rang throughout Az's bones before she literally felt the throne release its hold on her body. _Use the doorway to your left._

The princess jumped up, not caring if anyone was following her as she followed the instructions that came to her mind as if by magick. Actually, it probably was the deeply routed old magick that had formed the castle millennia before. Now that she was bound to it, it would strive to fulfill whatever requests and needs that she had.

Quite handy when she was pregnant and in desperate need of a toilet.

* * *

A/N: I know it's shorter than normal ... but I also know that won't stop any of you from reviewing. Right? I could just hold the next kitchen fluff/humor scene hostage until you review. I'm sure Ludo will help me hold my muse (Mitzi) down until you all succumb to my demands.

Because of the recent changes to FF, I'll be moving all my crossovers to the crossover section, but this one won't be moved until it's completed, just to make things easier on you guys (my readers).


	19. Chapter 19

A/N: *hangs head in shame* I'm so sorry for being this late. Please forgive me.

* * *

The first thing DG thought when she saw the man laying helplessly on the bed was that he looked remarkably unlike David Bowie. It seemed the only thing Jim Henson had done right was the wild shock of white-blond hair that covered his head, and the striking curve of his eyebrows. Other than that, he looked ... _human_. And sick.

"What do I do?" she asked Thia when she felt the other woman come up behind her.

Thia's hands flashed with her dark blue light as she sent gentle pulses through the prone figure of her uncle. She had to keep reminding herself that this was not _her_ uncle, but DG's, as she magickally surveyed the damage five years of a coma had done to his body. With a sigh she pulled back and placed a steadily pulsing hand on DG's arm and led her over to where Sarah lay prone and dying beside her bond mate.

"I'll guide you, but you'll have to be the one who heals them, DG. And we have to start with Sarah," Thia replied as she took one of DG's hands in hers and together placed them on Sarah's forehead.

"Why are we starting with Sarah?" DG asked, letting herself be led by the woman who looked so much like her but already seemed to have her life in order. "Shouldn't we be starting with Jareth?"

Thia hummed, "Yes, normally. But Sarah's brain was damaged in the car crash and it's been unable to heal properly. If we don't fix it before moving on, then both of them will die."

"What?" DG snapped, not liking the sound of that as she jerked out of Thia's grasp.

The sad eyes of the expectant mother bore into her, those watching from the doorway not moving to interfere in any way with what was going on. There was nothing anyone else could do. "They have been bound, DG. If she dies, he will die within the day."

DG took in a sharp breath at Thia's hard tone. No nonsense today. Nothing but the cold, hard facts of life. One bond mate dies, the other will soon follow. "I'll explain further once their bodies have been healed," Thia continued. "But for now we must work. There is little time."

Determined blue eyes flickered between the dying couple and the stranger from another world. "Show me what to do."

* * *

There was a buzz in the air not unlike the sound of a thousand bees making their way toward a foolish enemy who had just attacked their hive. The only difference was, while the buzzing of that many bees would send many people running for the shelter of their homes, this buzzing seemed to be coming from the air and the Labyrinth itself. And it wasn't nearly as irritating.

No, the buzz, instead, sent the denizens of the Labyrinth out into the open and toward the square that sat in front of the Castle. Something was happening inside. Something important.

One of the small pockets of goblin citizens contained a dwarf whose job it was to keep the gardens on the outer wall of the Labyrinth, a fox knight without a post, a beast that once frightened the townspeople, and what appeared to be a human man that had taken up company with them. It was a small, reclusive group that others avoided if at all possible. Each member had touched the hand of Fate and lived to tell the tale, and now they were spending the rest of their lives paying for it.

Hoggle felt a shiver run down his spine as he caught a whiff of a special magick that belonged only to one person this side of the veil: Sarah.

* * *

Her mind was full of images she wasn't sure were memories. Things that she instinctively knew had happened, but that she could not place in her own mind. If she had been able to use her body, some of the scenes would have made her laugh, others made her cry, and others still made her want to call out to the one person she knew would keep her safe.

The images had started rather suddenly some time ago. She couldn't say how long, only that it seemed as if they had been going on for ages. They probably had. As quickly as the images came, however, they stopped and left her in a greenish grey nothingness.

"_Sarah_," she heard in her mind although she could see no one talking. The voice was familiar, from her days before full of comedies and action flicks. She tried to see if she could move around in her spiritual being to get a look at what lay around her.

"_Sarah, it's time to wake up_," the familiar voice continued. She was so close to placing it, although she hadn't heard it in years, but without a face, she was at a loss.

If she had been sure she had a face, she would have frowned as she attempted to speak, "_Who are you? I'm supposed to be dead, how can I wake up?_"

The voice chuckled and suddenly Sarah saw a conjuring of a middle aged man she had grown up adoring. "_You are no more dead than the man you see before you_."

Sarah was sure this time that her brow was furrowed in confusion as she looked at the tall actor before her, "_Morgan Freeman?_"

He shrugged with a grin, "_I got tired of the jokes associated with Alan Rickman_."

Sarah's frown intensified, "_Alan Rickman? Who the hell are you?_"

His smile was not unkind as he replied, "_Consider me a friend, Sarah. But now it's time to wake up. You've been asleep for far too long and Jareth can't hold on much longer unless you wake up._"

She took in a ragged breath as she nodded once, wordlessly telling the odd man that looked like Morgan Freeman that she was ready and willing. He smiled in reply, and in the blink of an eye she was again alone in her odd little mist that seemed to be fading into darkness.

The next thing she knew, her mind was being pulled toward something. It felt like someone had a leash on her torso and she had to go where it led. Powerless, Sarah didn't fight as the tugging intensified and with a POP she more felt than heard, her mind reentered her body.

She moaned as she recognized immediately the ache in her back that came from sleeping too long. The next thing she felt was a pair of hands on her face, checking her temperature most likely. They moved to her neck to find her pulse, and the owner of the hands sighed in relief as she felt the steady staccato.

Sarah's eyes flickered open to come face to face with two nearly identical women. She pegged them as being identical twins, with the one a little further away being not only pregnant but having seen some very hard times. The one closer to her, who had checked for a pulse, seemed to be younger and more carefree. And both were very beautiful.

"Jareth?" she questioned in a raspy voice. She cleared her throat, suddenly realizing just how dry it was.

The more carefree "twin" moved to the bedside table to get Sarah some water while the pregnant "twin" grasped Sarah's hand with her own reassuringly. "He'll be fine now that you're awake."

"Can you tell us what happened?" the younger woman asked as she helped her sit up and drink a few sips of the surprisingly refreshing water.

The recently awakened woman looked past the "twins" and toward the other occupants in the room. She saw what appeared to be another set of twins, this time of the tall, blond, and male persuasion, and two women who looked familiar but she couldn't seem to place in her foggy mind. When she turned to look to her right, she saw another bed, occupied by a man who had haunted her dreams for ten long years.

"Jareth," she whispered, one of her hands reaching out to him, despite the distance between the beds. Turning back to the others around her, her eyes flashed with anger, "What's wrong with him?"

Her pregnant helper rolled her eyes, "Very little now that you're awake."

"Why would my being unconscious affect _him_?"

Knowledgeable blue eyes bore into her raging hazel ones as the pregnant woman leaned in toward her, "He bound himself to you, Sarah. If _you_ die, _he_ dies."

"How?" Sarah begged, desperately wanting to know what had happened.

The pregnant woman tilted her head to one side, "Did he ever kiss you, Sarah?"

Her sudden and intense red blush was enough answer even as she tried to deny it, "What does that matter?"

Her questioner pulled back, moving to stand at the foot of the bed, "On the midnight of your twenty-first birthday, was it not?"

Sarah's mouth fell open in shock, "How do you know that?"

The unknown woman shrugged, "You told me." Even as Sarah started shaking her head in denial the woman raised an eyebrow, "Or, at least, the you in _my_ reality."

"_Your_ reality?" Sarah questioned, unsure she wanted to be awake if this was what she was subjected to.

The non-pregnant version of the illusive woman grinned sympathetically at the woman on the bed, "Don't worry, when I first got here I was just as confused." She held out her hand, "I'm DG. She's Thia and yes, she's from an alternate reality with her husband, Wyatt Cain." She motioned to one of the men behind her, who nodded. "The other guy over there is from this reality."

"Like in _Star Trek_?" Sarah asked, some of her confusion abating as she took in the information that she was not alone.

Thia nodded emphatically, "Precisely. Now all we have to do is wait for Azkadellia to get here and then we can wake up the Goblin King."

"Why do we have to wait for the Princess?" the Wyatt Cain from this reality asked.

"Because in order to wake the beloved king from his slumber," Thia said in a voice that Sarah knew well as one usually directed to little children during story time, "The Labyrinth must help restore his balance. And in order for the Labyrinth to be able to do that, dear Mr. Cain, Azkadellia must act as a conduit for her."

* * *

Jael was unsure what to do. It seemed as if Jeb and Amy had everything under control for the troops, and she wasn't needed to say the last rites or benedictions to any one of their numerous followers. No. It would appear as if the once-Priestess had very little that she actually had to do other than wait.

So she took a bath. She spent nearly an hour and a half lingering in the wonderfully hot water that was fed to the tub from the nearby hot spring, letting annuals of dust and grime and worries wash away. She hadn't truly felt clean since her family had joined the Resistance and she and Amy had made their way to North Country. There often wasn't enough firewood to heat up water, and hot springs were just a pleasant memory in the cold wasteland she had called home for so long.

Now she felt the desire to be luxurious and pamper herself with the scented oils that were stocked in the bathroom she was sharing with absolutely no one. Actually, that fact made a part of her feel quite wasteful, as some of the other women had to share their bathrooms with three others or more.

She decided while she was basking in the wonderful warmth that she was going to see if one of the pregnant women that had come with them wanted to take a bath after she was done. It would probably do wonders for her back.

Jael got out of the tub, letting the water drain away as she wrapped a very large, fluffy towel around her dripping body. It was the calm before the storm, and she had no intention of letting the calm go to waste before the storm hit.

She looked at herself in front of the long mirror, critically eying the numerous scars that had accumulated over her body over the annuals of fighting. Her fingertips grazed gently over the long scar that ran down her left side. It had the look of being old, but Jael remembered the day the knife sliced her in battle as if it was yesterday. How could she forget the day her beloved was killed?

Her fingers moved on to a gun shot wound on her shoulder, still tinged pink and responsible for her right arm twanging with pain whenever she moved it in a broad movement.

She slipped her now dry legs into a pair of loose fitting breeches before reaching for a clean shirt from her bag now on the ornate dresser by the mirror. Perhaps she'd convince a few of the other fighters to train with her for a few hours so that she could get rid of the awful feeling in the pit of her stomach that tomorrow would be the end of everything that they've known.

It wasn't a feeling sent from Lurline. That was the extent to which Jael could pinpoint the gnawing in her gut that had signaled trouble so often in the past.

When she slipped from her rooms, it didn't take long for her to find the pregnant resistor she was looking for, nor did it take long to convince her to take advantage of the spacious tub and hot water running in the palace thanks to the restorative magick of Princess DG.

Finding her nephew, however, proved to be a far more challenging task.

---

Jeb listened attentively as his Aunt Amy and a few of the others in charge of the growing fleet of men and women spoke of different strategies to send before the queen. It seemed to be an unspoken acknowledgment that the real power behind the throne was Princess DG. They would follow her if she were to claim that right, but as long as she supported her mother, they would as well. Even if the queen had made decisions that had left her vulnerable to a well staged coup.

The group of five was currently discussing ways to block against the expected attack from King Jackson le Monté and his army of cutthroats and mercenaries. Everything about it would be bloody, but hopefully after the past fifteen annuals and the new leadership of their shining Princess DG, they would be able to stop him in his tracks and take back the land that he was already salivating and chomping at the bit to steal.

The young man wondered yet again what would have happened to his family if the Witch hadn't been released. His mind wandered back to the letter he had read from the version of him that had grown with Thia as a mother. He seemed well adjusted and happy, but Jeb wasn't sure that he could be if he had been in his doppelganger's place.

He certainly doubted that his doppelganger would be able to help successfully mount an attack on a sorceress as powerful as the one he had helped defeat. He'd probably never had to turn hard and heartless when he was young. Probably spent most of his days carefree and soft. Or, at least, Jeb hoped he did.

Out of the corner of his eye Jeb saw a shadow. Turning his head he noticed his other aunt, Jael, watching the group with knowing eyes. When she caught his eye, she motioned her head slightly, asking him to follow her to a more private location. It was a request to which he readily agreed.

"Have you taken up spying instead of praying?" Jeb asked his aunt lightly as he came abreast to her in the shadows that surrounded the courtyard.

Jael grinned, revealing white teeth that glinted sharply, "I've always spied for Lurline." She tilted her head back slightly and gazed at her nephew, who was now a few inches taller than her, "Walk with me?"

The young man vaguely remembered an aunt very fond of taking walks from when he was a boy, so despite his confusion he nodded with a shrug. "What'd you want to talk about?"

Her smile was slight and barely there as she led him through the unfamiliar halls she already knew the layout of in her mind. "Can't we just walk? There is something I want to talk to you about, but not now."

"You're a strange woman, Aunt Jael," he said as he shook his head and let her lead him away from the palace and toward the pristine lake and gazebo.

She laughed at his deduction, her amused eyes flickering toward his before turning back to their route, "All women are strange to men, Jeb. It's just that you've gotten used to a certain type of strangeness in your medic, Lya."

Jeb blushed in embarrassment, even though his face never broke from the clear, uninterested mask he had in place. In some ways he would always be his father's son. "She's not _my_ medic," he grumbled quietly.

Jael stopped walking and turned to face her nephew, her head tilted up slightly so that she could see his eyes, "Why not?"

Jeb shrugged for the second time, adverting his eyes from his aunt's penetrating gaze. "It's complicated."

Her smile grew sad as all the humor left her eyes. "Love always is, Jeb. But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't try."

* * *

A/N: Yes? No? Want fluff? I'm not promising anything for the next chapter, but it's looking to be the fanfiction equivilent of a basket full of Cadburry eggs. The good ones.


	20. Chapter 20

A/N: My head is perpetually hung in shame at my inability to keep to a schedule right now.

* * *

Zero waited patiently for Azkadellia to come out of the bathroom they had been led to. Okay, so maybe he wasn't waiting as patiently as he could, but he had to be sure that it really was Azkadellia and not the Sorceress pretending to be her.

When she finally immerged from the bathroom, all it took was one look at her peaceful face for Adrian's doubts to be assuaged. It was her.

"It's really you," he whispered, one of his hands coming up to lightly touch her cheek, as if she would slap it away if he wanted it too much. In truth, a part of him was still worried that the Sorceress was still inside of her and just playing some sick joke.

Instead, Azkadellia leaned into his touch as she said, "Adrian," and closed her eyes with a sigh of what sounded like contented bliss.

"I missed you," he whispered, running his thumb reverently over her cheekbone. He leaned in a little, wanting to capture every possible angle of her face in his memory.

"I missed you, too," she replied, her eyes fluttering open to capture his own in her hazel gaze. "Don't leave me, Adrian."

"Never," he replied fervently, leaning in to capture her mouth in a heated kiss that seemed to melt everything around and within them in its intense passion.

He pulled back from her warm mouth after the need for oxygen became too great to bear. Resting his forehead on hers he breathed in her scent deeply as he studied the glazed look in her eyes. Oh how he'd enjoy learning all her reactions to him again! This time without the wicked witch.

She stirred slightly against him as they came back to themselves. "We have to go," she whispered, clearly not wanting to break the spell their kiss had cast. Both could already feel the binds that wove from heart to heart, tying them together for all eternity.

"Right," Adrian replied, as he stepped back and snatched up her hand in one of his so that their contact would be continued. He bowed to her slightly, "Lead the way."

The insistent tug on his pant leg brought his gaze down to a short goblin looking up at him with wide, beady eyes. "Yes?" Zero asked, unsure how to address such a creature.

The goblin (he wasn't sure how to tell if it was male or female) didn't seem to mind as it wiped his nose with its sleeve, "You be Prince-man now?"

Adrian's eyebrows shot up to his hairline. He really didn't want to think about that right now, "What?"

The little creature rolled its eyes and started talking very slowly, as one would to a small child, "You smoochy-smooch with Princess-lady. You be Prince-man now?"

Zero felt himself unable to deny the words that the utterly hopeful goblin asked him before Az steered him toward the infirmary with a laugh at their antics. Yes, he supposed he would be the Prince-man now.

* * *

The infirmary was a proverbial dead zone while Sarah clutched Jareth's hand, willing him to wake up, and they all waited for Azkadellia to arrive and help. DG was standing awkwardly beside Cain, watching the woman at her uncle's bedside with care and longing.

"Is it terribly odd that I'm reminded of _An Affair to Remember_?" Thia asked the room in general, knowing only a few would understand what she was saying.

DG snorted while Sarah laughed silently. "I was thinking more_ Dogma_ actually," DG replied, her eyes flickering to her doppelganger's. "The whole coma thing, anyway."

Sarah let out a laugh at that, "And here I couldn't help but think of _While You Were Sleeping_." She looked up at the two women, humor in her eyes and a small smile on her drawn face, "You know, aside from the whole falling in love with his brother, thing."

"Don't worry," Thia replied with a grin as she looked up at her husband briefly before turning her attention back to the alternate version of her aunt, "He doesn't have one and you haven't met his sister yet."

This, of course, set off a round of giggles between DG and Sarah as Thia tried desperately to maintain the stoic composer she had learned from her husband (whose only sign of amusement at their antics was that his mouth was slightly raised at the corners). And wouldn't you know it? Azkadellia and Zero chose just that moment to enter the infirmary to see what she could do to help.

Az looked between the three giggling women, unsure what they had just walked in on, but not quite sure she'd understand even if DG tried to explain.

She turned her attention to the Elvin healer she spotted in the corner, "What can I do?"

Leena heaved an inward sigh as she let her presence be known, "You can start by clearing out this room of unnecessary people. The only ones who need to be in here are you, the Lady Sarah, and his majesty the king. The rest of you will have to go."

Thia thought that a very opportune moment to turn to Coriander and ask, "Are the South Gardens in good enough condition to receive visitors?"

The guard and one of the main caretakers of the palace furrowed her brow, trying to remember the last time Hoggle and his army of gnomes and dwarves had been to see the Southern Gardens. "I believe so, your highness," she finally replied with a nod. She motioned slightly to a goblin hiding in the shadows, "Perhaps Ink and Blot could escort you."

The princess's eyes went wide with a happy smile firmly implanted on her face at the appearance of a few guards she remembered from her world. Troublemakers, those two. "What a lovely idea, Coriander. Thank you for your consideration. Come on, DG. I think you'll like these gardens."

Moments later the room was devoid of all the unnecessary persons, just as Leena had so strongly "requested" in order to start the healing process. ... Well ... all unnecessary persons except for Adrian Zero. He refused to leave Az's line of sight and the crown princess had no particular desire to make him.

With that compromise in place, Leena proceeded to show Azkadellia how she was supposed to focus her light in order to wake the slumbering king.

* * *

"What's so special about the Southern Gardens?" DG asked Thia as she jogged a little to keep up with the other woman's fast pace. It was quite surprising (and embarrassing) for DG to have her pregnant doppelganger walking faster than she was.

Thia shot her a grin before grabbing her hand and walking a little faster, "You'll see."

She heard one of the Cain's utter a groan and took a wild guess that it was the one from Thia's reality. This was only confirmed when he said, "I doubt that they're in bloom right now, Dot. It's not going to look the same at all."

His wife just snorted back at him, "You should've seen it when I was five. It was in such a state of disrepair it took Hoggle and his crew a month to get all the weeds out." Her eyes were sparkling with something akin to what DG would have called magic on the Other Side. With a wistful sigh Thia added, "And they were still the most amazing thing I've ever seen."

Her husband snorted from where he strode along beside his own doppelganger a few feet behind the women. "More amazing than that time we saw the dragons fly?"

"Hold the phone!" DG said, her steps coming up short as she turned her wide blue eyes onto her Wyatt Cain, "There are dragons here?"

He gave her a quizzical stare, "Aren't there dragons on the Other Side?"

DG just shook her head dumbly as she replied with a horse whisper, "No."

"Magick all but died out on the Other Side a thousand years ago, Mr. Cain," Thia explained, her voice soft while her eyes betrayed her sadness. "No dragons, no Elves, very few fairies, virtually non-existent gnomes, and dwarves have adapted but lost most of their natural gifts. There are still a select few places on the Other Side that harness as much magickal energy as the garden we're going to, but not very many."

Cain was thoroughly confused by this information as they started walking again, approaching a door that Ink and Blot identified as leading Outside. "But how do you do anything then? Magick makes the machines run."

DG rolled her eyes at him, "Science."

Cain didn't know what this "science" was, but he thought it sounded horrible.

Luckily he was saved having to respond by their arrival at the door Ink and Blot had located earlier. It looked so much like the other doors in the corridor that Cain was positive that he would have walked right by it if he had been by himself.

Thia shot a grin at DG, "You ready?"

The other princess nodded, catching her breath in her throat as she waited to see what was behind the door that was so spectacular. Thia opened the door slowly and DG peered through, her eyes widening as she saw what she was positive was the same thing that had captured Thia's attention fifteen years before.

"Oh. My. God."

* * *

Jareth was astounded that he had lasted as long as he did in that void of nothingness for two primary reasons. The first of these was that he hadn't been so sure that the bonding had worked between him and Sarah, given that their kiss had taken place on the Other Side and not in the Underground. The second was that he hadn't been positive that he was as strong as he needed to be, nor that Sarah was as strong as he needed her to be.

So, he took it as a sign of luck and good fortune that neither of them died before his power was fully restored. As his mind became more aware of what was going on around him, he wasn't sure he wanted to know exactly how this restoration had been accomplished. Regardless, it would have had to involve the Labyrinth, and another soul that had been bound to it.

Irregardless, he could now feel the pull of consciousness on his mind and let it lead where it may.

When he opened his eyes, he came face to face with a woman who looked remarkably like his mother did when she was a young woman.

Not bothering to look at the others in the room, Jareth lifted one of his hands to brush away a wayward tear from her cheek. He knew without a doubt who she was, and his heart was full of emotions he hadn't thought he'd be able to feel again.

"You look just like your grandmother did. Especially now that the witch is gone." So what if his voice caught a little in his throat while he addressed his niece for the first real time since she was a few days old? He'd been asleep for five annuals, and she'd been possessed for almost three times that long.

Azkadellia smiled and brought one of her hands up to grasp his own. Her tears were making her eyes bright and vibrant and Jareth could already tell why the Labyrinth had chosen her so readily. "We'll make things right, Azkadellia," he vowed with a single nod. "It's the least we can do."

Az opened her mouth to respond but the sounds of rushed footsteps in the corridor halted her words. She helped her uncle sit up in the bed and watched with an overwhelming sense of peace as Sarah took up her proper place at his side.

The only outward sign of their love was the iron grip Jareth's hand had on Sarah's as he leaned back to await whomever it was to enter. Sarah's back was ramrod straight, even as she reciprocated Jareth's death grip with one of her own, and her knee kept in constant contact with the blankets covering his leg.

"Not awake five bloody minutes and already they'll be pestering me with idiotic demands," he mumbled, causing the blond man beside his niece to snort in amusement. ... He believe that when they'd met ten annuals before during his only meeting with the "Sorceress" that he'd been introduced as "Uno" or something of that sort.

"Hoggle?" Sarah questioned as the door opened to reveal the dwarf that had been her first friend in the Labyrinth all those years before.

The dwarf's eyes widened as he gasped, "Sarah? Your majesty!"

Jareth rolled his eyes and snapped, "Come, come, come, Hogsbrain. You didn't think I'd stay asleep forever, did you?"

That got Hoggle back on track as he bowed stiffly to the royals before turning to Leena and asking her, "He back for good?"

"Should be," the Elf nodded. "What's lit a fire under your boots?"

Hoggle turned back toward his king and reported, "The goblins have set one of the kitchens on fire again and you're about to be invaded with the burn victims."

Jareth suppressed an eye roll and a sigh as Sarah helped him stand up for the first time in nearly five annuals, "Bugger this for a lark."

* * *

"Do you like it?" Thia asked DG, watching her doppelganger's expression with interest as she took in the garden they had led her to.

DG's wide eyed, shocked face nodded as she took a few steps into the square garden. "It's just like the secret garden," she whispered reverently.

Wyatt snorted, "You should see it when it's in bloom."

DG's eyes flickered to his for a moment before she turned her attention back to the bushes and trees that filled the space. "I can imagine." And with that she was off exploring, quick as a bat out of hell ... or a princess finally allowed outside after too long under the watchful care of too many supervisors.

Cain stared at the spot where the princess had disappeared between two peach trees, exasperation written clearly on his face as he started after her. "Kid you can't go runnin' around here without someone with you! You could hurt yourself!"

Thia turned to her husband after the other man exited their field of vision. A mischievous grin appeared on her face, "Alone at last."

He smirked back at her, one hand coming to rest on her soft cheek, "Except for Ink and Blot, darlin'."

Her grin widened as she leaned into his touch, her stomach protruding between them, "Easily taken care of." Then she, too, darted into the garden (in the opposite direction from DG), leaving her husband to chase after her in a manner much more sexually charged than the other pair.

Oh how she loved this garden and its lustful air!

* * *

A/N: Yes? No? At least it's kinda fluffy ... not so much Cadburry eggs as it is Yoplait Whipped ... but I tried. Points if you got the _Good Omens_ reference.


	21. Chapter 21

A/N: It seems that I might have lied when I told you I'd be posting this a week before yesterday. No excuses, just that I'm terrible at keeping to schedules.

* * *

Today was a bad day. Scratch that: today was the worst day in the whole history of Queen Aerenesa's reign. ... Aside from the day the Witch staged a bloody coup and locked her in that horrid cell.

King Jackson le Monté had just declared war on the O.Z. and had seized control over the Eastern Territories. Without the support of the former resistors Nesa knew that her kingdom would fall again into enemy hands. If that happened, she wasn't sure the O.Z. would survive.

To make matters worse, her two daughters -- the only real defense against a hostile takeover bid from their neighbor -- were on some mission to save the Labyrinth from collapse.

She looked out over to where the dust of a thousand horses and transport vehicles was raised in an ominous cloud. A trickle of sweat ran down her back: he shouldn't have been able to get so far south so quickly.

Nesa raised her eyes to the heavens and did the only thing she could think to do; she prayed.

* * *

"What do you think they're doing over there?"

Wyatt glanced sidelong at his wife, his eyes twinkling, "I reckon you know what they're doin', Dot. Same thing we were up to not ten minutes ago."

Thia rolled her eyes as she hopped off the bench she had been sitting on with her shirtless companion. "But they've been so ... quiet. We make more noise than that when we're playing chess."

Her husband laughed at her, "Darlin' we don't play chess the way a normal couple does and you know it. I can pretty much guarantee that Mr. Stick-Up-His-Ass is not messing around with the princess. They're probably talking about gods-know what."

Thia scuffed her shoe against the gravel path, her eyes taking in the night blooming flowers that surrounded them. The garden may not have been at it's peak, but it was still a sight to behold. "Probably talking about agriculture or botany or something like that."

Wyatt shrugged, pulling her into his lap as she walked closer to him, "'Bout the only thing they have in common in this world, Dot."

She sighed as she burrowed her head into his neck, "It's not fair, Wyatt."

"What's not, Dot?" He reached over with one hand and picked up his fallen shirt. She scooted forward on his lap so he could maneuver into the garment.

She shook her head again, looking at him with saddened eyes. The wrinkles already forming around her cornflower eyes from the troubles of leading a country were more prominent than ever when she frowned. "I can feel the Land already begging for their union. We, at least, came from the same world and spoke the same language."

As he stood them up, Wyatt looked in the direction their counterparts stood beyond the trees. "A war bride."

"A war queen," Thia corrected softly, her head tilted as if she was listening to the wind. In fact, she was listening to the voices of the O.Z. and her other half, the Labyrinth, as they whispered their needs and desires for her and all other land bound to hear. They wanted DG. And Wyatt Cain.

* * *

The air was filled with smoke from the guns, and the smell of blood as soldiers fell on both sides of the battle ground. It was just supposed to be a scouting trip. They were headed southwest, through the forest, when the first gunshot went off and the first man fell.

(Actually, the first casualty was a woman, hiding out among the Longcoats as a man since her husband was killed. She was a spy for the Resistance and had traveled with the Longcoats to King Jackson's kingdom directly after the eclipse. But that's a minor point and really doesn't matter for the rest of the story as she is never found out.)

"Why does every day have to end in death?" one of the Resistors heading to Finaqua groused as he ran an enemy through with his dagger.

The woman fighting near him let out a humorless laugh as she broke the neck of her combatant. "If it's a good day to live, it's a good day to fight, and it's always a good day to die."

The man let out a bark of laugh as another enemy soldier ran at him and the deadly dance began again, leaving no time to continue the conversation, and very little to even think.

A shrill battle cry broke through the sounds of guns and metal on bone. The man and woman ignored the cry as best they could, taking the surprised shock on their opponents' faces to end their battles quickly. Once out of immediate danger, the couple looked up into the sky to see great winged mammals swooping down to help the Resistors and their battle.

"Sweet Lurline," the woman said, her eyes wide as she watched the winged creatures tear through those that got too close to their clawed feet and hands. Harpies. "They've returned."

"Look, Gaby," her companion replied, pointing to the creatures coming up through the forest, rounding up some of the soldiers that were trying to run. "Gargoyles."

"What magick is this, Stephen?" Gaby replied, her eyes wide. She began looking around at the fighting going on around them. Things were winding down now, thanks to the help of their magickal allies. Gabrielle and Stephen were not the only two standing around without a fighting partner. "The Sorceress destroyed all of the gargoyles and harpies annuals ago."

"Apparently not," Stephen replied, grabbing Gaby's callused hand and pulling her toward where the prisoners were being gathered and guarded by a few of the scariest looking harpies either one had ever seen.

A harpy approached the pair, having signaled them out as the leaders of the group of Resistors. She inclined her head in respect to their rank as the fighting came to a complete halt around them.

"Thank you for the assistance," Stephen said as Gabrielle eyed the creature and her barely covered, feathered form with curiosity. "We had no idea some of your kind had escaped the Scourge."

The harpy smiled, revealing glinting sharp teeth, "The Sorceress was not nearly as all-knowing as she pretended. There are those of us who have survived. Far more than you see here, but they remain hidden."

"Why have you come forward now? Where were you in the past months and annuals leading up to the Eclipse?" Gabrielle's voice cut through with a hard edge to it as she sheathed her daggers.

The harpy straightened her back as her feathers bristled at the implied insult, "Don't question our motives for staying away, human! Your race wasn't facing xenocide." Gabrielle backed off a little, silently offering an apology for her words. The harpy accepted by adding, "And we have come out of hiding because the queen has returned and will need our help. All of our help."

* * *

"Hey, Mr. Cain?" DG asked as she look up at the leaves above where she lay in the small alcove of the garden. She was unusually warm in the afternoon breeze that filtered through the peach trees.

"What is it, kid?" the man in question asked from where he sat against one of the closest trees. Try as he might,

"What's going to happen when we get back to Finaqua?" her voice was small as she sat up and moved to rest her head on his leg the way she often had on their week-long journey to stop the Witch.

Cain's hand came down to smooth through her hair as if it had a mind of its own. "Well, King Jackson is a serious threat that will need to be dealt with. And we'll have to get the army set up and running properly under Gale control again. A public broadcast reassuring the people would help -- which means we'll have to get the comm towers back up. We'll also have to get the government back up and running."

"We?" DG looked up at him with wide eyes that looked very close to tears. "You're staying?"

His hand caressed her cheek and his blue eyes softened, "I'll never leave you. Especially not when you need me the most, DG."

She hitched a breath as he leaned down so his face was over hers. Her eyes went even wider than they already were as she realized his intent even as he paused mere inches from her face. His gaze flickered between her lips and her eyes, silently asking her if it was all right.

Just as silently DG snaked her arm around the back of his neck and pulled his head down the last few inches in a kiss as sweet as honey and firm as ... well ... you get the idea. Dot. Dot. Dot.

The pair carried along like that for some time until the fireworks set off by their steamy encounter were getting too hot to handle and Cain pulled back. Just in time to see a few goblins try to sneak back into the shadows.

Cain pulled DG up with him as he got to his feet. The moment had passed and his senses returned, "Stay behind me, Princess."

DG seemed to be able to read his tense body language correctly because she didn't argue with him as he pushed her behind his broad frame and (hopefully) out of harm's way.

The pair followed the steadily moving goblins back toward the main path that wound through the garden, stopping only when they came across another couple that looked almost exactly like DG and her Tin Man. The man was sitting on a stone bench while his wife examined a flowering bush a few feet away. Her back was turned to the newcomers and she seemed to be listening to something in the air.

Her husband turned at the slight sound of feet on gravel. When he saw Ink and Blot standing at attention in front of DG and Cain, the prince coughed into his hand to let his wife know that they had company. Company they had, apparently, been expecting.

Thia whipped around to reveal both of her hands protectively cradling her stomach. Her eyes met the other princess's as she said clear enough for the goblins hiding in the far reaches of the garden to hear, "King Jackson has spilt the First Blood."

DG looked at the grave look on Cain's face before turning back to her counterpart, "That sounds bad."

"He's openly declared war," Cain explained without turning to face her. "We have to get back right away."

"What about Az?" DG asked, her head turning between Thia and Cain as she searched for answers.

"She has to stay here, kiddo," Cain replied with a note of regret in his voice. "I'm sorry."

She shook her head as she looked down, her very being deflated, "No, it's all right. I couldn't expect we'd be together forever, right?"

Thia took a step forward as her husband rose from his seat. "But you can say good-bye this time. And I'll show you how to use mirror communication so that you can talk to her while the fighting's going on."

DG's head rose and there was a familiar determined jut to her jawline. "When do we leave?"

"As soon as possible," Thia replied. Wyatt offered her his hand and she took it before letting the goblins lead them back inside.

* * *

If there was one thing Az hated more than the Witch, it was saying good-bye to her sister so soon after having been reunited with her. She knew why it was happening, and she agreed with reasoning, but that didn't mean that she had to like it.

"Thia said she'd show me how to use a mirror to communicate with you, though, so it's not like it's forever this time, Az."

One of Azkadellia's hands came up to run over DG's cheek, tears flooding her eyes as she pulled her into a hug, "I wish you didn't have to leave at all."

"Careful what you wish for," DG replied, hugging her back just as fiercely. When she pulled back and wiped off the tears from Az's eyes, "But I know what you mean. I love you, and this isn't good-bye."

Az frowned as she conjured a handkerchief to wipe her eyes properly with, "What should we say then?"

"How about 'see you soon'?" DG offered with a small smile, "After all, we'll see each other with the mirrors tonight, won't we?"

Az let out a small laugh at that, "I guess you're right."

DG grinned cheekily, trying to get her sister to laugh again, "I always am. Just ask Cain."

"Hey!" the man in question protested. "Don't drag me into this."

The younger princess turned to him with her wide eyes and innocent face, "Why, Cain, I don't know what you mean. I was only stating the obvious."

At the glare Cain pointedly gave the younger princess Az couldn't control the smile threatening to break through any longer.

"Oh, Deej," Az said as she embraced her sister again. "Stay safe, okay? And I'll see you soon."

"See you soon, Az," she replied as she let go of her sister. Turning her attention to the man standing next to Az, DG added, "And, Zero? Take good care of my sister or I'll do something that will make the papay look like rabbits. Got it?"

Zero gulped visibly at the threat. "Of course, Princess."

DG grinned again, "Good." She turned to where Thia was standing beside a silently laughing Wyatt and Cain (whose mouth was twitching in an effort to keep the smile hidden, "Now we can go."

"Good luck," Wyatt nodded to the four they were leaving in the Goblin Kingdom.

"Lurline guide your paths," Jareth replied with a nod.

* * *

Jeb's eyes widened at the news that his scouts were reporting. Harpies? Gryphons? This far south of their safe holds? What in Lurline's name could have caused them to come out of hiding with the threat of the Witch's men still out there?

"Don't look so shocked, nephew," a voice said from behind him. He turned his head slightly and dismissed the scout with a flick of his wrist when he saw his youngest aunt, Jael. "The Witch didn't know nearly as much about the magick of the O.Z. denizens as she thought."

"These are your other troops?" he questioned with a nod toward where the group of magickal beings and Resistors was approaching Finaqua.

Jael nodded once, "It was actually your uncle, Elliot, who discovered them."

"I thought you hadn't seen him since Dad was put in the suit?"

"It was before that. Amy and I didn't find out about it until later, though. When the gryphons came looking for him after he hadn't visited in too long." Jael gave her nephew a tense smile. "You'd be surprised how much they've done to help us."

"Like what?" Jeb asked as the two of them started walking through the maze so that they could meet the new troops at the gate with Amy and Ahamo.

"How do you think the Witch didn't find us when she came looking through the mountains?" she inquired with a small smile on her face.

"We always figured you were using the caves or tunnels," Jeb replied. "Are you saying that the gryphons hid you?"

"The harpies and the gryphons actually. Harpies hid the women and children in their nests, and the gryphons hid the men in their caves until the danger had passed. After that we stayed in regular contact and started raising our young together. The children are with the harpies left at the nests now."

"You left your children with harpies?" Jeb asked, unable to help the tone of disbelief from entering his voice.

Jael have her nephew an admonishing look, "There's no safer place for them to be right now Jeb. The harpies have sworn their safety and there is nothing more sacred to them than keeping their word."

Reluctantly the young man nodded, "I'm sorry, Aunt Jael," he whispered as they continued walking. "There's just so much happening and so many things are changing so quickly."

"I know, Jeb. I know. All we can do is be there for the Queen when she needs us. And she needs us now more than ever. We can't let King Jackson take her home away from her when she's only just realized that's what the O.Z. is."

Jeb stopped in his tracks, "What are you talking about?" Who was she talking about? The old queen had known the O.Z. was her home for annuals -- ever since she had been born. That could only mean that ...

Jael smiled cryptically as she watched him put the pieces together. "You are your father's son, Jeb. Never doubt that. And never doubt his love for you."

* * *

A/N: So? What do you think? For those of you who wondering, Gaby/Gabrielle is Gwen's daughter (Jeb's cousin and Wyatt's niece) and Stephen would be her lover/husband/other half. I had a major issue getting through this chapter, thus why it was sooooo late and untimely. I really hope to get into more of a schedule now and update at least weekly.

Suggestions, hopes, ideas, whatever are all welcome. Just no flames. I like building things up, not tearing them down. ... Well ... unless it's King Jackson's reign, of course. ...


	22. Chapter 22

A/N: Whenever I try to pin this damn story to a schedule, it just gets away from me and I can't find my muse for weeks. Horrid, really. I'm sorry.

* * *

Ahamo nervously shifted his weight from one foot to the other as he watched and listened to the approaching army. Despite the knowledge that they were on the same side in this godsforsaken war, he couldn't seem to dispel the pit in his stomach that bespoke too many annuals in the underground Realm of the Unwanted.

When Nesa had first explained to him the importance of the Realm, and the existence of the Labyrinth, he wasn't sure he understood, but after living there he knew that the gateway city was more important than many people would like to admit. It allowed those that weren't wished away a refuge from society: a place where it wouldn't matter what they looked like, or what they'd done. Most of the time, anyway.

It had been the hardest thing in the world to watch his wife and youngest daughter leave to go to Milltown. And now his two little girls were going to be ripped from him again. Oh, not the same way, of course, but both had found love in their time apart from him. How could a good father stand in the way of that?

His body tensed as he felt two people approach from behind. He relaxed minutely when he recognized the steps of the Cain boy and one of his aunts. Without turning around he greeted them, "How go the preparations for war?"

The young lad cleared his throat before coming to rest a few steps behind the Prince Consort whose job it was to oversee the Ozarian arm. "As well as could be hoped. The supplies that the princess brought back when she restored Finaqua are a big help. Nice to be able to give the men another pair of boots."

Ahamo's mind flashed back to his history lessons on the Other Side. For soldiers, boots were almost more important than their guns. Especially when there was a great deal of travel. Slowly he nodded as he mulled over the news that somehow DG had known to restock all of the supplies when she restored the palace.

"And the refugees?" Ahamo asked Jeb's aunt.

Jael's eyes flickered briefly to the consort before turning back to the forest before them, "Most are adjusting well. The Princesses help in getting the crops under way has been a vital help. We're already receiving reports from the neighboring villages about rebuilding and joy at the return of the Queen."

"Good," Ahamo nodded sharply moments before the approaching militia broke through the tree line.

Jeb was taken aback at the shear numbers of harpies and gryphons that surrounded the small band of human Resistors. There were at least two hundred magickal creatures spread out before them, and more were pouring forth from the tree line.

The leader of the harpies stepped forward with two gryphons at her heels. The scantily clad, winged creature bowed slightly to the man in front of the hedge maze that surrounded the sole entrance into Finaqua. "Greetings from the North, Prince Consort."

Ahamo inclined his head in respect, "And greetings to you from the South, Commander. We hope the hunt has maintained well enough."

The harpy opened her fanged mouth to reply when a magickal disturbance to her left had her barring them for an entirely different reason as she reached for the broadsword strapped across her back, between her wings.

A blink of the eye later and four humans appeared, two women (one of which happened to be with child) and two men. It took less than a second for the men to push the women behind them in an attempt to protect them from the perceived danger.

The leader of the harpies sheathed her sword as soon as she caught a glimpse of the woman pushed behind one of the men that looked remarkably like Elliot Cain. That hair ... Those eyes ... Her scent was different from fifteen annuals prior, but at the same time it was still the scent she had come to recognize by the time she was a fledgeling. Princess DG.

The harpy bowed low to the ground, prompting the others in her group to do the same, along with the gryphons as they too caught wind of the unmistakable scent. Their queen had returned.

Rather than feel left out and too afraid of offending their new allies, the humans took that opportunity to bow as low as the harpies. After all, when in Milltown ...

---

"Cain?" DG's small voice came from just behind his left shoulder. His arm twitched, letting her know he had heard without taking his attention off the bowing multitude before them. "What's going on?"

"I don't know, kid. Only the Queen gets this kind of response," Cain replied out of the corner of his mouth.

"But the papay did the same thing," she questioned, her hands fisting into his duster nervously.

"After you healed a tree for them. That was more respect than anything else, I reckon."

Thia snorted behind them in a very unladylike fashion.

DG turned around to see what she found so amusing, Thia motioned her head toward the harpies. "Best go deal with them, then. They'll stay like that for days if you don't."

"What do I do?" DG could feel a pit gnawing in her stomach at the prospect of dealing with the "fairy tale" creatures before her. What if she said the wrong thing and ended up insulting them or something?

As if Thia could read her mind she gave her counterpart a reassuring look, "Just keep things simple and invite them into Finaqua. Make it quick, though. Your mother will be able to help you with the finer aspects of diplomacy once we're inside the palace."

DG nodded briskly before poking her head out from behind Cain's back to see how the silent stand-still was going. Her hand instinctively reached out for Cain's as she took a few tentative steps forward until she reached her father.

"Hmm," DG said under her breath as Cain released her hand and prodded her forward a step or two. She looked down at the harpy and gryphons very near her feet. "Can you ... get up, please?" she asked, unsure if that was how it was supposed to be done but not knowing any other way. She hadn't exactly studied court protacol on the Other Side, or anything like that. The best she could offer was some patchwork knowledge from Princess Leia, Princess Diana, and Queen Elizabeth II. Oh, and all those movies Momster seemed to like so much, but she couldn't really see how Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty taught her how to be a princess.

If anything, the harpy directly in front of her looked bemused as she stood up and looked DG in the eye. "Greetings from the North, your majesty," she said in a husky voice that sent a shiver down the princess's spine. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Ystril of the White Mountains' Nest and these you see before you are some of my sisters. We offer you our services and pledge to you our lives."

DG smiled as warmly as possible at the prospect of new friends, but something about what Ystril said did not ring quite right. "I'm sure my mother will be comforted to know the House of Gale still has friends willing to stand and fight by our sides."

Ystril smiled as one does a child who doesn't quite understand the ways of the world, "You misunderstand, your majesty, we pledge our lives to our rightful queen, not the House of Gale. The gryphons will do as they please, but that is where the harpies stand."

With wide eyes that hid from most her inner turmoil, DG nodded benignly and motioned for the Ystril to follow her, "Enter Finaqua, my friends. We can discuss this further inside the safety of the Maze."

Ystril bowed from the waist with a smirking eyes, saying, "As your majesty commands," before moving to follow the rather irate Ahamo into Finaqua.

"That's interesting," Cain whispered under his breath, just loud enough for Thia's husband to hear. The other man seemed to know something that he wasn't telling and neither Thia or Wyatt seemed surprised with the proclamation of the harpy leader.

---

Nesa sat gracefully in one of the wicker chairs that adorned her sitting room, her back ramrod straight two inches in front of the back of the chair. To all outward appearances she was the cool and calm collected queen her people had come to know over her fifteen annual reign prior to the Witch's coup. Outward appearances can be deceiving.

On the inside, Nesa was a bona-fide mess. She knew these Resistors that were protecting her and her family were not exactly loyal to her, nor did most of the leaders have any trouble with letting her know that. They were loyal to her daughter, DG. A daughter she barely knew even before the Witch had escaped. Her days on her throne were numbered, probably non-existant if the men and women buzzing through her summer palace had any say in the matter. A cold chill gripped her heart as she realized something she had done her best to ignore during her long annuals of imprisonment: she was a former queen.

Her thoughts were interrupted by voices on the other side of the door. She made her face as impassive as possible just moments before the door opened to reveal her husband and their daughter: talking quite familiarly with a scantily clad harpy. Behind them came Jael Cain, Jeb Cain, Wyatt Cain and the couple that had been a thorn in her side since their arrival: Prince and Princess Wyatt and Thia Cain. After they had ushered into the room, they were followed by four gryphons.

DG smiled as her mother stood to greet the newcomers, "Mother, this is Ystril of the White Mountains' Nest. Ystril, this is my mother, Queen Aerenesa II."

Ystril bowed from the waist in a less formal manner than she'd done for DG less than twenty minutes before. "Your highness," she said, her voice ringing clear and strong. The implication of her greeting was not lost of Nesa, nor anyone else in the room. On instinct, Ahamo's feet took him to stand just to the right of his wife, holding his chin up high and providing her whatever silent strength he could.

"Commander," Nesa replied without batting an eye as she motioned to the backless settee to her left, "Please, sit and tell us what news you bring from the North."

Ystril complied and DG took a seat to her mother's right, with the Cain's choosing to take stances behind the princess. One of the gryphons sat on the floor by DG's feet, his head coming to her shoulder even with his legs folded in a seemingly benign fashion. Thia and her husband stayed near the wall, close to the door and yet close enough to hear whatever was going to be said. Two other gryphons took up post on either side of Ystril, and the fourth stayed on his feet by the door. If Nesa's perceptions were correct, it would seem as if both the gryphons and the harpies had chosen a new queen.

"The nests in the North have been mostly untouched after the first five annuals of the Sorceress's reign," Ystril began. "We have many warriors willing to fight for our new queen."

Nesa raised an eyebrow, astounded at the audacity of the harpy. However, she didn't have to answer as DG chose that moment to butt in herself.

"Wait, what? New queen?" She shook her head, "I don't know how to be a queen yet. Mother should continue to be queen."

Ystril shook her head once, "It was not our choice, your majesty. We harpies are connected in a very different way to the Land than humans are, and the O.Z. has been crying out for your coronation ever since you touched the papay fields with your magick and brought them back to life."

DG shook her head, looking back at Cain to verify her information, "No, I didn't. I healed a tree. Not the whole field."

Ystril cocked her head to the left, looking at DG with a look of confusion, "You really are incredible, your majesty." Her eyes flickered to the man standing directly behind the princess, "It would have taken a very strong desire to break past your inexperience and cause a chain reaction of that size."

DG frowned, "What?"

"You wanted to keep us safe, and you wanted to help the papay so much that it caused your magick to heal the tree," Cain explained, looking down at the kid in front of him and inwardly wondering exactly how strong she was.

"But there was so much magick that was put into the tree that it had to expand someway, so it steadily grew and expanded to heal the rest of the trees in the orchard," Thia explained after Cain stopped talking. DG really was quite powerful to be able to pull of an act of such magnitude as healing the papay fields in one go like that. "It's even possible that once you learn to harness the power of the O.Z. into your own magick that you will even be stronger than me."

DG's frown turned skeptical, "Is that even possible?"

"Quite," Thia nodded, sitting on the chair her husband led her to without complaint. "Although it will take you much training to learn to utilize it all." She raised an eyebrow critically as she thought it over, "If you even can. It nearly overwhelmed me when I tried."

DG let out a nervous laugh, her eyes wide, "That's encouraging."

Thia smirked, "I didn't mean it to be. You can't have the facts sugar coated, DG. Not if you're going to lead this country through war and come out as a whole nation."

Ystril turned her head to face the other couple, "I'm a little confused here. Your scent is very similar to her majesty's, but you are not her -- and you are not of this world. Who are you?"

The other princess turned to the harpy and gave her an appraising look before replying, "I am the lost child of another realm in another dimension. All my husband and I want to do is go home. In order to do that, we must help."

Ystril's eyebrows rose in surprise. "You seem quite open with information for the future Queen of the Labyrinth." Her eyes flickered to Wyatt's, "I wonder what your consort would have to say about that."

Wyatt stared at her in the same manner he used for troublesome dignitaries. "You seem quite judgmental for someone who's only alive because of your connection with the Land."

The harpy grinned fully, revealing sharp incisors that glinted in the light, "You know your facts, your highness, I'll give you that."

"When you've been connected to the Heart of any Land for a time, you pick up on things. Like a disturbance in the balance of magick."

"We need to get back to the problem at hand," Ahamo butted in without fanfare. "What news of things in the North?"

Ystril turned her attention back to DG and the three standing behind her, "The North holds strong. We have spent the past annuals keeping our mountains free from the Witch's grasp. But on our way South we've noticed increased activity of King Jackson's men. They're on the move and will be at Finaqua's gate by the second twilight tonight."

---

DG could feel a headache starting to come on as everyone around her bustled and planned for the oncoming attack. It wasn't good. None of it was good. The pit in her stomach grew as she realized what it meant if the enemy was able to get so deeply into the kingdom. Not good at all.

Her mother's voice cut through the panic that was beginning to surround her, "She must be crowned immediately and the troops must go to fight in her name."

DG's head snapped up, "What? Why?" She looked around the room for answers, and only found hard faces that did not know how to explain.

At long last, it was Thia who said, "You magick is stronger than your mother's, and your name will strike fear and hope in hearts long dead to emotion. You must be queen, or there will be no hope."

DG's eyes sought out the other pair of ice blue that for some reason gave her untold comfort. Cain nodded once, letting her know silently that he agreed with the decision.

"I don't know how to be a queen," she whispered to him from across the room while the others got back to work and seconds were called for to set the soldiers into position. No matter her own misgivings, the men and women at Finaqua would fight for her right to be queen until every last one of them was dead.

Cain made his way to her side and knelt down beside her chair. "Look at me, kiddo," he said, one of his hands coming up to her chin to turn her face toward his. Her eyes were big and so full of self-doubt that he sighed, "You already know how to be a queen -- and you're going to make a great one, at that."

"How can you be sure?" she squeaked out quietly.

He leaned in and whispered, "Because you let me out of a tin box and opened up my heart to love instead of revenge, you showed Glitch that he doesn't need the other half of his brain to be whole, and you gave Raw the courage to fight back. That's what a queen does, and who she is, DG. That's who you are."

"Thia, can you get the royal crown here from it's vault in Central City?" Nesa was asking when Cain finally pulled away from DG and she started paying attention to the plans again.

Thia contemplated the task and finally shook her head once, "Not by myself. The distance is too great and I've already used a great deal of magick that won't be replenished until I return home."

"I can help," DG stated as she rose from her chair. Her jaw was set in a determined line as she added, "And then we can talk about the magickal offense we're going to launch against this jackass and his army."

The corner of Wyatt's mouth twitched up slightly as he tried to suppress a smirk. He glanced at his counterpart and saw him beaming with pride at the princess. The princess reminded him of someone he knew once, before annuals of court politics had started to dull her spark of rebellion. His wife slipped her hand into his. With luck, they would be home by the morrow.

* * *

A/N: Any comments or yelling can be properly submitted for my viewing through the review button located at the bottom of your screen. Thank you very much. Good day.

Oh, and if you would like to remind me of any loose ends of hanging plot lines you think I might have missed, please feel free to review those in as well.


	23. Chapter 23

A/N: Tehe. I'm in the middle of a Leverage high right now. I have two new cross overs that have nothing to do with Tin Man in the works, too. Terribly sorry. At least I remembered to update this time.

* * *

DG's heart was beating loud enough that she was positive that everyone around her could hear it as well. In less than half an hour she would be crowned Queen of the O.Z. and she had very little idea what that meant. Now she was standing with Thia, hands clasped together as they focused toward the goal of calling the royal crown from its vault in Central City to them.

"Why didn't the Witch move the crown when she had the chance?" DG asked as the wind picked up around them without disturbing a hair on their heads.

"She couldn't," Thia replied, her eyes closed in concentration. "The crown can only be touched by a true queen, and she was not."

"Then how can you move it?" DG asked as she felt Thia draw on some of her power.

"I am the future Queen of the Labyrinth. And I'm helping the rightful Queen of the O.Z. claim her crown. The magick inside the moratanium knows this. It will not interfere with our task."

"Oh."

"Hush for a moment, we're almost in." DG closed her eyes and let her consciousness get pulled along with the magick. Thia had already said that it was the only way she would learn how to transport things and call things to her.

Her surroundings faded and were replaced by a very dark, dry room in the basement of the Central City palace. Lights that came from nowhere flooded the place as their consciousnesses traveled through the room to a vault in the back. There, suddenly, was the royal crown of the O.Z. passed down from queen to queen for the past few hundred years. It was smaller than DG had expected.

DG paid attention as Thia directed their combined magick (mostly DG's, actually) toward the crown (more of an embellished circlet, really) and gently lifted it up and pulled it into the other room where the two women stood, surrounded by numerous others in case something horrible happened (luckily, nothing did).

Both of the women felt more than heard the "POP" that always accompanied the movement of a object through time and space. DG opened her eyes and stared at the crown that was essentially levetating in the middle of the circle cast by Thia and her.

"This is so cool," she whispered as her mother came forward and plucked the crown out from the air.

Thia nodded in agreement, "Just wait until you put it on for the first time."

"Which will be in ten minutes if you wouldn't mind gathering everyone together in the throne room?" Nesa asked the room in general. Immediately the others started moving around once more. Jeb and his aunt left to see what trouble his other aunt was causing on her own, and Ystril whent to go make sure the hapries were ready for the spur-of-the-moment corronation about to take place.

Cain took a few quick steps toward DG and stood close enough to her that it was the most normal thing in the world for her to lean back against him. So much was happening so quickly. She knew without a doubt that if he left her she would fall apart. She tilted her head back so she could look up at him, her eyes saying so much more than words ever could as they shared a moment of silence.

"This is all very touching, indeed. However, you wouldn't mind hurrying this along a little bit, perhaps? Our dear guests have an engagement tonight that they do not want to be late for," a familiar British accent said snidely.

DG's head whipped around and her eyes were wide as she looked at the apparation before her. If the situation had been any less dire, she would have laughed. It really was a young version of Alan Rickman. "This is too weird," she commented dryly as she felt Cain tense up behind her.

"What do you mean an engagement?" Thia cut in before DG could go off on the improbablity of what was happening. "There's a war going on and the enemy will be here in a few hours." She narrowed her eyes and advanced a few steps toward the Metatron, much to the amusement of the others who were watching, "What ever happened to 'help or never see your family again,' hmm, Mr. Scary-Metatron?"

The Metatron returned her glare with full force, "You are not doing what you were asked to do and time is running out. You need not be here when the battle begins so long as you do finish your task."

"What finish?" Thia nearly yelled at him. "What task? You haven't told me anything other than 'Fix it!' since I got here!"

Wyatt tookd a step toward his wife, but other than that made no move to intervene in the impending blowout. She needed to do this on her own.

Ahamo and Nesa watched with wide eyes, the Ozarian crown clutched tightly in Nesa's pale hands. She was yelling. At the Metatron.

Alan Rickman seemed to grow three feet in hight as he thundered, "You were to give her your memories, foolish witch! How else would she be expected to wage war on the other Great Dark Witch that her enemy commands? She must learn quickly to control her powers and it's only through your memories that she can do that."

Thia staggered back in shock as the Metatron returned to the normal hight of his chosen actor. Memories. Her memories. She looked back at DG, who was also in shock at the very mention of the idea. However, it would make things a little easier for DG once the transfer was complete. Did she have enough power for it, though?

She shook her head as she pulled out a pendant from beneath her dress. The stone in the center of the two dancing princesses was pulsing irratically with different shades of blue.

"Finish the task you were charged with," the Metatron ordered as he faded from the view of the others in the room, "And you will return home."

Thia's head raised and her husaband could see the unshed tears making her eyes bright.

DG slowly made her way toward the other woman, unsure how to comfort her when she, herself, was positive she didn't want another set of memories in her head. "What is that thing?" she asked, motioning toward the pendant.

Thia's eyes returned to the metal and stone, "It was a gift from Az. The Labyrinth used it to lock up my excess magick that I couldn't properly control. Now it's showing me my child's life force."

A chill ran down DG's spine, "I take it the pulsating isn't good?"

The expectant mother shook her head minutely. "It's a very bad sign. I'm not sure how much magick I'll have left once I give you the necessary memories," her voice was thick and raspy with the same unshed tears that covered her eyes.

"We'll think of something, Dot," her husband said.

"First, however, there is a cooronation that must take place now," Nesa brought their attention back to the situation at hand. "I find it best to deal with one thing at a time in situations like this."

DG nodded, squeezing Thia's shoulder comfortingly as she asked her mother, "So, what happens? We go into the throne room, say some fancy ritualistic words and then you crown me Queen of the O.Z. before we go off to destroy the bad guys? Right?"

Ahamo smiled at her attempt at humor, "That's about right, spitfire. All you have to do is pledge yourself to the kingdom when your mother prompts you to, then she'll put the crown on your head and everything will be all set."

"What happens when I put on the crown?" DG asked for clarifcation. She wanted to be prepared for anything and everything that might happen once the damn thing was touching her.

Nesa's eyes sparkled with old memories, "The O.Z. will claim you as her own."

* * *

No one looking at him could tell, but Wyatt Cain's heart was beating so fast he was half afraid it would burst. There he was, standing between Raw and Glitch and DG was about to be crowned Queen of the O.Z. mear hours before another battle would start.

Talk about a bad time to jump into the frey. Or be crowned Queen. Holy shit. In less than ten minutes it would be official: he was in love with the Queen of a country in turmoil. A woman less than half his age. Did that make him a dirty old man? It should. He knew it should. But when DG turned to look at him for support from her spot next to her mother, he knew all it did was make him the luckiest man alive.

To tell the truth, he wasn't listening to the words the Queen spoke as she raised the crown over DG's head, asking her to bind her future and her magick to the future of the O.Z. Would she be their queen in times of hardship and turmoil? War and famine? Peace and abundance?

DG's head nodded as she said the words that came to her mind. He knew she didn't know them before -- no one had told her the correct words to say. Yet somehow the right words spill from her mouth in a clear, confident voice. A voice men would go to war behind.

And then the crown was being placed in its rightful spot ontop DG's recently brushed curls. He has to marvel at how elegant she looks with her hair cascading down her back in waves and the small circlet framing her face.

She turned around to meet the eyes osf her new subjects as a bright flash of light surrounded her. He felt Glitch hold him back from running to her as he lost sight of where she was. His eyes widened as he saw the light reach out toward where he stood and engulf him in the same wave of power as DG. Cain's panic subsided as the wave of serenity washed over him and he felt DG's heart and mind next to his. If this was what his doppelganger had felt when he had been bonded to his wife, then it was no wonder that neither one of them could stand to be very far from the other. As the light subsided, Cain felt as if his heart had been left in DG's body while hers beat in his.

The applause from the crowd of onlookers was deafening.

* * *

While the others were at the cooronation, Thia and Wyatt stayed behind in the parlor, both of them trying to come up with a plan that would not end in the death of their baby.

"The Metatron seems to have written us into the corner with this one," Wyatt groused as he paced in front of his wife's seat.

She nodded, "If only we'd known sooner. Why'd he have to be so cryptic, Wyatt?"

Her husband stopped and knelt between her knees, forcing her to look at him. "It's going to be okay, Thia. Everything will work out and soon we'll be back home with both our sons."

Thia shook her head, tears welling again in her eyes as one hand protectively cradled her stomach. "I just don't see how, Wyatt. There's no easy way out of this one."

Six beady eyes watched the couple from the shadows in the room. None of the goblins had had a particularly pleasant last few days after they were essentially stranded when the couple had gone to the Labyrinth without them.

Ring didn't wait for his brothers before he bounded out of the shadows and made his way to the Lady's leg and hugged her tightly. "Princess Lady no be sad," he wailed pathetically as his brothers approached with a pouch held preciously between them.

Ding grinned, proud he had figured out how to make their lady happy again. "Right! We have plan! Make everyone happy again. Easy."

Thia looked down at the three little creatures before brushing away her tears, "What do you mean, Ding?"

Bing jerked the bag out of his brother's grasp and presented it to the Prince-Man. "Princess Az Lady gives us this if you needs it."

Curiosity replacing grief for a moment, Thia watched her husband slip the contents of the pouch into his open palm. Once they both saw what it was Az had given the goblins, they couldn't help but laugh.

"She made me an Easy Button."

"I wonder what pressin' it will do?" Wyatt mused aloud as he handed the big red button to his wife.

Thia's eyes sparkled as she thought about it. She turned it upside down and found some script on the bottom. Bringing it close to her face so she could see the tiny words she read, "Otherwise known as: The Instant Magickal Rejuvination Button. For use in extremely dire situations only."

Wyatt chuckled, "That sure sounds like Az. You figure you should press it now or after the ceremony's over?"

"Already over," Bing replied, "New Queen on way here now with marked consort."

Wyatt's head snapped over to look at the goblins sharply at that news, "He was marked at the cooronation?" He turned his attention to his wife and asked, "Is that how it should have happened for us?"

Thia nodded without hesitation. "Yes, that's how it should have happened. But the Labyrinth got a little over eager once she found out how powerful I was. An unbonded monarch is a very dangerous thing for the Land, darlin'."

He smirked slighty at her use of the nickname. "It's not your fault, Dot. Let's just worry about gettin' home right now. The rest can wait."

"What rest can wait?" the familiar yet odd voice of DG asked as she walked into the parlor with Wyatt Cain at her heels, followed closely by Raw and Glitch. Nesa and Ahamo were no where in sight.

"The rest of our lives, of course," Thia said, turning the Easy Button over so that the red was on top.

DG stopped dead in her tracks as soon as she saw the device in Thia's hand, "Is that what I think it is?"

"If you think it's Az's idea of an Easy Button, then yes." Without waiting for another moment, Thia pushed the button and immediately felt her fatigue and nausea and other side effects from a near draining vanish without a trace. Experimentally she lifted the ex-Tin Man's hat off his head an inch or two, causing him to glare stubbornly.

With a grin, she turned to DG and motioned for her to sit beside her as her husband got up and moved to give the pair some room. "And now we teach you to use your magick."

"Is this gonna hurt?" DG asked, unsure what to expect.

"Yes," Thia said bluntly. "There's always a trade off with magick like this. The transfer of memories always comes with pain. But it should go away in an hour or so."

DG frowned as she took Thia's offered hand, her voice dripping with sarcasm, "That sounds promising."

Thia raised an eyebrow, "It's either that or ... well, that. It's the only option, DG."

The other woman nodded, resigned, "I know. Let's just get this over with."

* * *

A/N: My guess is one to two more chapters and then we'll be done. And for those of you who want to argue with the Easy Button, just imagine Az sticking her tongue out at you and telling you to not read too much into it. It's just a story, and in Thia's world, Az has been helping her stay in touch with Other Side pop culture.


	24. Chapter 24

A/N: TADA!!!

* * *

The memories flooded into her mind the same way, she imagined, ocean water overcame the baracades surrounding New Orleans in 2006. She felt every neron in her brain spasm with the onslaught of information and memories that weren't hers but that she'd need. Knowledge that would save the lives of many men, women, and children.

As her mind started to sort through the information being forced into it, DG began to feel the splitting headache that Thia had promised. She whimpered as she felt the information taper off until no more was shoved into her abused brain.

"Owie," she moaned as her hands came up to cradle her cranium.

"Don't worry, Doll," Glitch said cheerfully, "It'll go away soon. And now you know all sorts of fun stuff that you didn't know before."

She gave him a weak smile for his attempt at humor. "Thanks, Glitch. Maybe after things settle down here we can go have Az put your brain back together for you."

Glitch smiled and patted her hand, "Let's worry about keeping the country together, Doll. We can worry about my brain later. Brain later. Brain -- Oh, hello. Name's Glitch. Have we met?" It was a hard thump on the back from Cain that brought Glitch out of his glitching cycle, and a glare that stopped the advisor from speaking again.

DG's smile widened a little at the humorous episode that played out before her eyes. A glass of something that looked like water was thrust into her vision by an unknown hand.

She took the cup and looked up into Raw's kind face. "Drink. Will dull pain."

"Thanks," she replied, finding the clear liquid tasted like regular water, but as soon as it touched her lips it did ease the ache in her head to a bearable level. With a sigh she looked at the men surrounding her before turning to look at Thia, only to find that their visitors had disappeared.

"Where'd they go?" DG asked, her heart thumping loudly in her chest as she searched in vain for the couple and their three goblin guards.

Cain looked around, having been too concerned with DG that he had lost track of the other couple for a moment. Apparently that was all it took, "They must have gone back to their own reality."

"So, that's it?" DG asked with a frown of confusion. "She dumps her memories in me and gets to go home? Just like that?"

Cain shrugged, "That was all she was asked to do."

Her frown deepened as she thought about the logic of it as she sorted through her new memories. There was one that particularly stood out from the others. Not because it was the answer to their problem of King Jackson's invasion, but because it was a particularly odd memory to associate with magick. "Remember the Alamo?" she said in a confused tone to no one particular.

Cain frowned at her, "Don't you mean the Palamo?"

DG's confusion increased at his words. "The Palamo? What's that?"

Glitch's eyebrows rose as he stared at her as if she had two heads, "Doll, the Palamo was the last battle of resistance when the O.Z. was first formed. Seventy-five men were killed after holing up in a castle just north of her for three hundred days."

She shook her head, "The Alamo is different. It's something that happened on the Other Side. I don't know why she brought it up. Maybe Ahamo will have an idea."

"You feel up to goin' to find them?" Cain was clearly worried about her after finding out how much pain she was in.

DG nodded, unsure she should, but knowing there was no other way, "Whether or not, Jackson's coming and we can't wait for me to get better before we start planning."

* * *

Thia held on tightly to her husband's arm as she felt the pull of inter-dimensional travel. One second she was pouring her memories of magick class and late nights memorizing spells into DG, and the next she felt her body being pulled back into her own reality.

"Mom? Dad?" she heard a rather familiar voice call out hesitantly as her body settled into their original reality once again.

She opened her eyes, unsure what she was going to find, but what her eyes rested upon was definitely _not_ it. Her husband tensed beside her and she felt herself torn between a glare and a laugh at the sight of a clearly frightened Jeb and Lya in a rather ... _compromising_ position.

"Jeb Cain!" Thia said at the same time as her husband.

"We taught you better than that!" Wyatt finished, making it clear that they were together on this stand.

Lya blushed and sat up, smoothing down her skirt as she moved away from a very guilty looking Jeb. "I'll just ..."

"Stay right there, young lady," Thia replied, pointing to the other side of the sofa the two had been canoodling on. She got up from the chair the Metatron had been kind enough to deposit her on, one hand on her stomach (which was protruding a little more than it had a week before) to emphasize her point as she sighed exasperatedly. "What a sight to come home to, Jeb! I just finish making sure that another reality won't dissolve into a million pieces and you're here ..." she waved her hand vaguely to encompass the whole situation, "Doing _this_. Why aren't you helping your uncle or aunt with their duties and the children?"

Jeb looked down at his lap as he mumbled, "Uncle Jareth banned me from helping him while you guys were gone. And Az started getting nervous with me around all the time."

"And your studies?" Wyatt asked, crossing his arms across his chest and looking more fierce than was completely necessary. "You're leaving in two months for school. Have you been keeping up with your reading and practicing?"

The goblin prince shrugged as he scuffed his feet on the floor. His parents certainly seemed to have a way of making him feel like a child sometimes.

Thia felt tears come into her eyes unbidden as she watched her step-son, "I've been gone for almost a week and you haven't even given me a hug yet."

Jeb immediately bolted out of his seat and launched himself at his step-mother, giving her as tight a hug as he dared given her pregnant belly. "I missed you, Mom," he whispered into her ear. "And then when Dad left -- I wasn't sure what to do. I was so scared that you'd never come back."

Thia held on just as tightly, "We're here now, Jeb. It's okay. We're not really mad." They released each other and Jeb went to hug his father as Thia looked at the contrite looking redhead who was trying to disappear into the sofa. "If you're going to be messing around in such a manner, make sure that your birth charms are active so you don't wind up with a bun in the oven before you're ready."

Lya launched herself off the sofa and hugged the princess tightly. "I'll be careful, Thia. I've missed you."

"I've missed you too, Lya. Things over there were just so different. I could hardly stand it." Thia released her son's girlfriend and smiled at how happy the smiling girl made her. She was finally home.

"Let us out! Let us out!" a voice squealed from the floor by their feet.

The four of them looked down and came face to ... well, blanket. There on the floor was the blanket Wyatt's mother had made for them when they had gotten married. And it was moving. Wyatt took a step back from his son and toward the blanket, picking it up to reveal the three goblins that had gone with Thia to the other reality.

"Thank you, Prince-man!" Ding said as the three got up from where the blanket had caused them to fall. "Gotta run now so you can't bog us!" and with that they were gone, running toward the shadows and out into the rest of the castle.

Wyatt's eyes twinkled as he watched them run for their hides. "It's good to be home."

* * *

"Were there a lot of differences with their reality?" Adrian asked at supper that night after everyone had a chance to hug Thia and Wyatt and tell them how good it was that they were back.

Thia nodded, "Too many to tell you about." She glanced at her sister and the baby that was at her side. Peanut was eating with her father in his private chambers for some reason that Thia didn't really care about. "I'm not even sure I should tell you some of the things that are different there."

Az smiled at her sister, "It can't be that bad, Thia."

Wyatt cleared his throat as he put down his fork, "Actually, Az, it can." He wasn't sure how to explain what they'd found out in the Other Reality. With a sigh he shook his head and took another bite of the filet in front of him. "Just be glad we're in this reality."

"The Metatron seemed to insinuate that their reality wasn't very different from ours," Nesa commented before taking a bite from her own dinner. "What are some of the changes you saw?"

Thia was tired and unsure how to put her words kindly. So she didn't try, "Az spent the past fifteen annuals possessed with the Great Witch that they failed to destroy in the cave we were exploring. She killed DG, and their Mother, had to bring her back to life. The Witch, through Az, took over the O.Z. and locked the Queen in a small, magickal prison for thirteen annuals. Ahamo spent that time living in the Realm of the Unwanted, and DG was stuck in a little farmhouse on the Other Side, oblivious to the war going on in her name." She looked down at her hands as she decided whether or not to continue.

It was Az who made the decision for her as she got up from her seat and hugged her sister tightly. "I'm sorry you had to see all of that, Deeg. It must've been hard for you."

She hugged back fiercely as she couldn't help but let out a snort, "I'm not sure I could have done it without that Easy Button you sent me."

Az leaned back on her heels and grinned at her little sister, "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

"It was perfect," Thia agreed, unable to hold back her laughter at the thought of the little red button.

"Hey," Jeb's head shot up as he asked, "Can we have a _Shrek_ marathon after supper's done? Lya hasn't seen them yet and I'm sure Peanut would like them."

"That sounds great, son," Wyatt replied with a nod. "The humor would do us all good."

Just then, the servants came in with the flaming chocolate mouse that was to be their dessert.

Thia's eyes sparkled with anticipation as Az returned to her seat, "Now _that's_ the O.Z. I remember."

* * *

_Seven Months Later_

DG was signing papers at her "new" desk, unsure if she just thought the desk was overcompensating for something, or if it just seemed so big because of her small frame. Either way it was too big and the only reason she put up with it was because Glitch told her it was an heirloom passed down from the fist queen of the O.Z. If she didn't use it, it would be just as good as demanding she have a new crown.

Being queen when there wasn't a war or major economic crisis to deal with was, quite frankly, about as boring as staring at a field of wheat all day without any paper or charcoals. It was about as fun as getting a root canal. And, of course, she had to explain almost every other word that came out of her mouth. It wasn't fair!

She hadn't even been able to really prepare for being queen. All she had was the memories Thia pushed into her brain right before disappearing into thin air, the lessons she had learned from history class, and what Cain and Glitch and Raw helped her with. She'd really be lost without them.

DG sighed as she looked down at the paper she was signing. Apparently they were going to have to use the spare copy because she had stopped signing her name half way through and started drawing a picture of Momster and Popsicle. Gods she missed them.

She thought about the last few months and what had brought her to where she was today: sitting at her massive desk in a massive gown that made her waist look two inches big thanks to all the yards of fabric an the corset -- that she had_ no_ say in picking out -- signing papers that had to do with the allocation of food stuffs, the reopening of universities and primary schools, and medical supplies.

After kicking the ass of King Jackson into the week before he was born, DG had learned quickly that her magick would suggest that she do the oddest things if she didn't keep it under a firm hand. One of the many past times her magick enjoyed was tormenting the Tin Man. She often found herself bored in meetings and would send his beloved hat twirling through the air without a second thought. Or magickally bring up the seat of his pants just a few more inches.

She grinned at the thought of her torment of him. True, it seemed like every other month there was another enemy to take care of who thought she would be a push over of a queen without a Prince Consort yet and no heir to speak of, but that didn't mean that there weren't good times as well.

One of her favorites was when one of the orphanages she had opened put on a little skit in her honor of her journey through the O.Z. to save them all. The little girl who had the honor of playing the leading role had nearly fainted when Cain told her she was as pretty as her character.

Her thoughts drifted to when she was told that her nurture units were broken beyond repair. She had cried the whole night through from the safety of Cain's supportive arms. That brought a smile to her face as she remembered the day they had decided to get married ... well ... that's not _exactly_ what happened ...

_DG had just found out that her advisors were inviting some potential suitors to the palace at Central City from around the realm and she wanted nothing more than to cry. They didn't think a queen hastily crowned in war could find a suitable mate to help her in ruling her country._

_Cain walked toward where she was swinging on the swing in the gazebo at Finaqua. He stood next to her as she rocked back and forth, "You okay, kid?"_

_Her head shook of its own accord, "Not really." Her eyes flickered up to his, "I thought queens were supposed to know what was going on around them. But now people are telling me I have to get married to some guy I don't even know. For the kingdom."_

_"That's not totally true, DG," he responded, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he gazed at her from under the brim of his hat. "I actually came out here to ask you if you wanted to get married in Central City, Finaqua, or the Northern Palace?"_

_She frowned up at him, "Get married to who?"_

_"Me, of course. Who else?" They hadn't talked about what had happened at her coronation. No one else had talked about it, either. Her advisors knew that the O.Z. would honor her choice of consort unless the man she chose was a fiend, and without knowing that the O.Z. and it's Queen had already chosen, they had set about finding her a suitable companion._

_DG shook her head as she shot up from the swing to stand at her full height, "No, no, no. No way, Tin Man. I'm not letting you do this just because the O.Z. thinks you're a good match for me. That's not good enough. I won't --"_

_Wyatt cut her off with his lips on hers in an action that not only made her stop talking, but solidified their bond as mates for all eternity. When he broke apart for breath he continued to hold onto her arms tightly, afraid that she would whisk away on the wind if he let go. "It's not about the damn kingdom, DG. It's about you and it's about me. I love you, gods damn it, and I'm not letting you screw this up for the both of us!"_

_Her heart was beating faster and faster as she digested his words. He loved her? Really loved her? He wasn't just saying that? Her heart soared as she leaned into his embrace once more, wrapping her arms around his waist as she rested her head on his shoulder. There really was only one appropriate response. "I love you too."_

_He sighed in relief and stroked her back with one of his hands as the other came up to cradle the back of her head. "And where do you want to marry me?"_

_"Finaqua."_

A knock on the door caused DG to look up. She smiled when she saw Az standing there in all her pregnant glory. "What are you doing signing papers, Deeg?" her older sister asked irately. "You're getting married in five minutes and you don't even have your shoes on yet!"

DG grinned as she ran out from behind her desk and went to join her sister in the search for her shoes. Her wedding shoes. Because in five minutes she was marrying Wyatt Freakin' Cain.

Fin

* * *

A/N: My new mantra is: Just say no to sequels. If you're at all into Leverage go check out my new cross over with Stargate SG-1. ... Or just stay tuned for me to get back to writing something that's more your style. I love all my reviewers and readers. Thank you.


End file.
